Morphed Photo Of PM Modi And Pamela Goswami Riding Bicycle Surfaces

A morphed image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with BJP youth wing leader from West Bengal Pamela Goswami riding bicycles is doing the rounds with false claims that the two were photographed campaigning together for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

A member of the BJP's youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Pamela Goswami was arrested along with her friend and driver for alleged possession of cocaine recovered from her car in February this year. She later alleged that she was framed as part of a conspiracy and the drug was planted in her car. Goswami's bail plea was rejected and her police custody has been extended till March 18.

The caption of the viral image reads, "Modi's photo with cocaine possessor Pamela" (Original text in Hindi: "फोटो जीवी कोकीन जीवी के साथ")

Archive of the post can be seen here and here.

The image is also viral on Twitter with a similar narrative. Archive can be seen here.

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Fact Check

BOOM searched Pamela Goswami's social media accounts, and found the original photo on her Facebook profile from December 1, 2020. The original image shows Goswami taking part in a cycle rally with a BJP flag; other party workers can also be seen riding bicycles. In the picture, another BJP worker has been tagged as one Anupam Mallik.

Further, we searched with keywords "Narendra Modi riding bicycle" and found several news reports from 2017 where Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte had gifted a bicycle to Narendra Modi. PM Modi had gone for a visit to the Netherlands in June 2017. Images of Modi on the bicycle can also be seen on his Twitter account, that was gifted to him by the Dutch PM.

Narendra Modi, on June 28, 2017, tweeted two images of him and the Dutch Prime Minister posing with the bicycle.

On comparing the two original images we found that Narendra Modi's image on a bicycle has been flipped and placed on the viral image. A comparison of the same can be seen below.

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