Fact-checked by BOOM | Translated by Gujarat Samachar Digital

A fake picture of cricketer Virat Kohli watching a recent press conference of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made rounds on social media recently.

As fact-checked by Boom, the photo was tampered with, and the cricketer was just scrolling through his mobile phone on the original picture, with no photo of Rahul Gandhi on the screen.

It was claimed that Kohli was watching Gandhi’s conference before the match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

A verified account named ‘@TheIncNews’ on X shared the edited picture and wrote, “Virat Kohli listening to the press conference of our prime minister Shri Rahul Gandhi. RTs should not stop.”

This picture is also viral on Facebook with similar claims.

A reverse image search with the help of Google Lens was executed by Boom.

In the original picture that was found, Kohli’s screen looked a little blurry. But there were clearly no signs of Rahul Gandhi on it, as seen in the viral picture.

The handle @virat_.forever_ on Instagram posted the original picture of Kohli and wrote, “Virat Kohli chilling before the start of shooting for (the) Jio ad.”

The picture shows no photo of Rahul Gandhi on the screen, establishing that the original photo has been tampered with and Rahul Gandhi’s photo has been added separately to the viral photo.

This story was originally published by Boom, and translated by Gujarat Samachar Digital as part of the Shakti Collective.

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