A black and white photo of veteran journalist Sheela Bhatt interviewing underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in Dubai in 1987 is being shared on social media misidentifying the woman in the photo as former journalist turned Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate.
The photograph is being shared with the caption when translated reads, "The name of this woman seen with Dawood in this picture of 1987 is Supriya Shrinate. At this time, she is the national spokesperson of Congress. You can often see her speaking shamelessly in a TV debate. Now I understand why she abuses and quarrels with everyone and introduces herself to her nonsense language- Congress always gives birth to traitors and grows them up"
(Original text in Hindi - 1987 कि इस तस्वीर में दाऊद के साथ में दिखाई दे रही इस महिला का नाम सुप्रिया श्रीनेत है इस समय यह कांग्रेस कि राष्ट्रीय प्रवक्ता है इनको अक्सर आप टीवी डिबेट में बेशर्मी से बेहुदा भाषा से बात करते हुए देख सकते हैं- अब समझ आया कि क्यों यह सभी से गाली-गलौज व लड़ती झगड़ती हैं और अपनी बेहुदा भाषा से अपना परिचय देती है- कांग्रेस ने हमेशा देशद्रोहियों को जन्म देकर पाल-पोस कर बड़ा करती है)
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The same photo is also being widely shared on Twitter with the same false claim.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the woman in the viral photo is journalist Sheela Bhatt interviewing underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in Dubai in 1987 and not Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate as claimed on social media.
Bhatt tweeted the viral photo on June 14, 2023, identifying herself in the photo saying, "Drop a photo of you doing your job, Interviewing Dawood Ibrahim in Pearl Building, Dubai. 1987."
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Bhatt also tweeted stating that the 1987 interview was carried in The Illustrated Weekly. In the tweet below she states, "Flooded with queries if this is fake pic or real. Just to put record straight posting two cover pages 1) Abhiyaan, the weekly founded by me and my late husband Kanti Bhatt and 2) The Illustrated Weekly. Both carried my interview of Dawood Ibrahim in 1987. Weekly’s cover story was written by distinguished journalist Amrtia Shah. My interview ran along with her cover story. All Dawood pics were taken by me."
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We also looked up Supriya Shrinate's LinkedIn profile, where she stated that she was in school from 1988 to 1996, whereas the viral black and white photo of Dawood was taken in 1987.