An old video of Payal Abdullah, estranged wife of Omar Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, is being shared with a false claim she is the sister of Sachin Pilot, former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan
The claim further states Payal Abdullah renounced Hinduism and converted to Islam to marry and is now regretting her decision.
While Abdullah and Pilot are related, with Abdullah's sister Sara married to Sachin Pilot; the woman in the video Payal Nath (maiden name) is not related to Pilot. According to news reports, Sachin Pilot's sister Sarika Pilot is married to a businessman named Vishal Chaudhary.
The Indian Express on September 1, 2023 reported on a recent order by the Delhi High Court directing "former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to pay interim maintenance of Rs 1,50,000 per month to his estranged wife Payal Abdullah." The couple has been at estranged since 2011 when Abdullah announced their separation. A long drawn legal battle remains in place with Abdullah's divorce petition rejected in 2016 and another petition filed in 2018, pending in court.
The video is being shared in the background of the court order with text in Hindi that translates to, "Sachin Pilot's sister who married Farooq Abdullah's rat-like son Omar Abdullah after abandoning Hindu religion, see what is the situation now,they are getting divorced and this poor girl has to come to media and tell her her her her about her. These are the partners of Congress"
(Original text in Hindi - सचिन पायलट की सगी बहन जो फारुख अब्दुल्ला मुल्ले के चूहे जैसे मुंह वाले बेटे उमर अब्दुल्ला से हिंदू धर्म त्यागकर निकाह की थी उसकी स्तिथि अब क्या है देख लिजिए 👇👇😠,,इनका तलाक हो रहा और मीडिया में आके इस बेचारी को आपबीती बतानी पड़ रही.👇👇ये है काँग्रेस के भागीदार)
FACT CHECK
We noticed that the video carried the old logo of ABP News and using that we ran a keyword search for 'Omar Abdullah Wife Divorce ABP News' and found the same video uploaded on their YouTube channel on September 12, 2016.
The video was titled, 'Exclusive: My kids and I are not getting any support from Omar since 2013, says Payal Abdullah' which showed that the woman is Payal Abdullah and not Sarika Pilot.
We then ran a search for Payal Abdullah (née Nath) and found old photos of her posing with Abdullah and found that she is the woman in the video.
To further confirm, we ran a search for Sarika Pilot, Sachin Pilot's sister and found that she did not bear any similarities with the woman in the viral video.
Below is a comparison of Payal Abdullah, the woman in the video and Sarika Pilot.