TV9 Graphic Claiming Aditya Thackeray Tested HIV Positive Is Fake

A morphed screenshot of a Hindi news channel TV9 Bharatvarsh's news graphic is being shared falsely claiming that Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's son and Maharashtra cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray has tested positive for HIV/AIDS.

BOOM found that the original news graphic reports on Thackeray testing positive for COVID-19 after he had announced in a tweet. Thackeray had tweeted on March 20, 2021, stating that he had tested positive for COVID-19

The viral graphic when translated reads, "CM Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya Thackeray tested HIV positive"

Click here to view, and here for an archive.

(In Hindi - सीएम उद्धव के बेटे आदित्य ठाकरे HIV / AIDS पॉजिटिव)

Viral on Facebook

On performing a keyword search we found that the viral graphic is being shared with the false claim.

Also Read: Image Showing Narendra Modi And Amit Shah In Skull Caps Is Morphed

FACT-CHECK

BOOM found that the viral news graphic has been edited and the original news graphic states that Aditya Thackeray tested positive for COVID-19.

On looking up TV9 Bharatvarsh's YouTube channel we found the original video uploaded on March 20, 2021. The news graphic has been edited and the word Corona has been replaced with HIV/ AIDS in the viral screenshot.

On comparing from the original clip we can clearly see that the words, 'HIV/AIDS' has been edited into the graphic.

Additionally, the handle name @OfficeOfSid who's watermark can be seen in the viral graphic and had tweeted the viral graphic has been temporarily taken down by Twitter stating that it violated the Twitter Media Policy.

Also Read: Maharashtra In The Beginning Of 2nd COVID-19 Wave, Warns Centre