An archival video of Amitabh Bachchan with Rahul Gandhi at Delhi airport is being shared on social media with the false claim that it shows the actor bringing the Congress leader back to India from the United States after the latter was released in a drug-related case.
BOOM found that the video is from May 1991, when Bachchan arrived from London and Gandhi from Boston at Delhi Airport following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The Claim: Video shows Bachchan bringing back Gandhi from the US after he was released in a drug case
The 20-seconds video is being shared on X with the caption mocking Gandhi and Bachchan. It claims: "This video is from the time when Rahul Khan was caught in a drugs case in America, at that time, on the request of India's then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji, Rahul Khan was released, and at that time Amitabh Bachchan had gone to pick him up from America, when he brought him back, he was playing the role of "Coolie", see how he was carrying the bag of Rahul Khan aka Vinci* That's why he made a movie called "Coolie No. 1""
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What We Found:
1) Viral video of Gandhi and Bachchan at Delhi airport after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991
We ran a reverse image search using key-frames from the video and found that it is from May 1991.
The same video was posted on stock photo website Getty Images with the title "Rajiv Gandhi funeral / New Delhi GVs, stating it was created on May 24, 1991.
We also found several news reports mentioning the incident, when Bachchan, who had arrived from London, met Rahul Gandhi, who had flown in from Boston, at Delhi Airport.
An excerpt from a Times of India article state, "When Rajiv was assassinated at Sriperumbudur, Amitabh was in London and Rahul in Boston. They landed in Delhi together from London. Amitabh then took charge of the funeral arrangements with Priyanka, while Rahul stayed at home, trying to console Sonia and accepting condolences."
Additionally, we also found another video of Bachchan with the Gandhi siblings - Rahul and Priyanka at Delhi airport from May 1991 that was posted by Wilderness Films India on YouTube.
Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991. Chandra Shekhar was prime minister at that time, which contradicts the misleading post which claims Atal Bihari Vajpayee was at the helm.
2) Fake claim on Rahul Gandhi being arrested at Boston Airport in a drug case
BOOM has previously debunked the false claim mentioned in the caption claiming that Rahul Gandhi was arrested at Boston Airport in 2001 for drug possession. A fake newspaper clipping created using online tools was being shared in April 2019 to support the false claim.
We also found an archive of an article from The Hindu, dated September 29, 2001 that included a story about Gandhi being detained at Boston airport. The article mentions that Gandhi was detained at the airport following the enhanced security proceedings due to the September 2001 terror attacks in the United States. However, he was let go after some time. There was no involvement of drug possession in this incident.