Viral posts claiming Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) officer Anjali Birla married a Muslim man - 'Anees Rajani' - are false.
BOOM found that Birla, who is also the daughter of Lok Sabha speaker and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Om Birla, married Aneesh Rajani, a businessman from Rajasthan with Sindhi-Hindu lineage.
Birla got married in a ceremony on November 12, 2024, in Kota, Rajasthan. The ceremony and following reception was attended by several dignitaries from the state with photos of the event published across news reports.
The viral claim is being shared with the text, "BJP Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has got his daughter Anjali married to Anees. After all, what is the reason that all the anti-Muslim leaders in their country choose their sons-in-law Anees and Mukhtar?"
Posts with the false claim also spell the groom's name as Anees, a common name in the Muslim community in India.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that Anjali Birla's husband is not from the Muslim community and is of Sindhi-Hindu lineage, from a prominent business family in Rajasthan.
A search for details on the wedding, led us to a story published by NDTV Rajasthan in Hindi which had the names of his parents as as Naresh and Simran Rajani. It also said that the family runs an oil business in Kota, Rajasthan and the father of the groom, Naresh, "is involved in several activities associated with temple building and Sanatan Dharma".
The report said the family belongs to the Sindhi community.
Hari Majhi, a BJP leader and former MP from Gaya, Bihar also tweeted the same that Aneesh Rajani and his family are Sindhis. Sharing a photo of the couple's wedding card, Majhi addressed the rumours and said, "The truth is that Anish Rajani is a Sindhi Hindu, from a reputed business family of Kota and his family has built more than 12 Shivalayas...."
We also found the groom's account on X and Instagram where he has spelt his name as Aneesh and not Anees, as those from the Muslim community do. We are not including his social media accounts in the story to protect his privacy.
BOOM has previously fact checked viral posts about Anjali Birla that falsely claimed she had cleared the UPSC without appearing for the exams.
