An old image of Punjabi CM Bhagwant Mann is going viral on social media. In the viral photo, he can be seen sitting in a crouched position with three other people. While mocking the Punjab CM, people on social media claimed it was Mann’s photo taken 12 years ago when Punjab police arrested him and three other people, for bike theft.
A Twitter user shared this image and wrote a caption in Hindi that reads ौचौों ोो काइों ोो अपोइचो ोोअप कोंचो ोोअो
[English Translation: Guess Who? This is a picture of the time when these four were caught by the Punjab Police for the crime of bike theft.]
It is shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.
To claim:
The viral image is of Bhagwant Mann when Punjab police arrested Mann and three others for stealing a bicycle.
Fact check:
The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the virus claim and found it to be false. The viral image is of Holi celebrations.
To find out the truth about the viral image, we did an open reverse image search on Google which led us to a Facebook post dated March 18, of a Punjabi singer and actor named Karamjit Anmol. Karamjeet shared this photo and wrote a caption that read, “Memories of Holi with Bhagwant Mann & @manjitsidhu.”
Searching further, we found that he shared the same photo on his Instagram as well.
We reached out to Karamjit Anmol through his Facebook account to inquire about the photo. We’ll update the story once we have his response.
India Today Fact Check team contacted Karamjeet who told them that this photo was from 1995 when he and his friends visited Punjabi singer Harbhajan Mann’s house to celebrate Holi. This photo was taken in Harbhajan’s house.
Karamjit also tagged Manjit Sidhu in his photo. We searched for this profile on Facebook and found a profile named Lally Manjit Sidhu. Karamjeet also tagged Manjit Sidhu in many other posts. According to his profile biography, it was written that he was an Aam Aadmi Punjab party worker.
To sum up, it is true that the viral photo is that of Bhagwant Mann and his associates. However, the image was of Holi celebration when Mann and his friends visited the house of Punjabi singer Harbhajan Mann to celebrate Holi. It has nothing to do with bike theft. Therefore, the viral claim is false.
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