A fake newspaper clipping created through a website and purported to be from The Boston Globe with the headline, 'Indian Politician Arrested' was tweeted by Swaminathan Gurumurthy, part-time director of the Reserve Bank of India.
Taking aim at Indian National Congress President, S Gurumurthy tweeted the photo with the caption, "Pl read this news item. Who's is this son of former Prime Minister? "
Gurumurthy, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue, deleted his tweeted after he was called out by Twitter users.
S Gurumurthy Tweet Click here to view tweet, and here for an archive.
The fake clipping dated September 30, 2001, reads, "An Indian politician was detained at Boston airport when the airport security found him in possession of banned drugs and unaccounted cash. As per our sources, he is the son of a former Indian Prime Minister. He was later released after the intervention of the Indian ambassador to the US, reports AFP."
The same image of the clipping was tweeted by a Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), Harsh Sanghavi with the caption, "Who's is this son of former Prime Minister of India Arrested ?? Guess Name?"
Harsh Sanghavi Tweet BOOM also received this newspaper clipping on our helpline (7700906111) inquiring if it was genuine and whether Rahul Gandhi was detained for carrying narcotics in the United States and whether he was released on the intervention of Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
WhatsApp message inquiring about the newspaper clipping Fact-Check We ran a reverse image search of the viral newspaper clipping which threw up links to Newspaper clipping generator tools that use the same format.
Using the website fodey.com which allows a user to generate a fake news clipping using the masthead of any newspaper one intends.
Newspaper clipping generator Entering the same name of the newspaper and sentences used in the viral image, we got the same exact image.
Newspaper Generator clipping made by entering the exact same details After creating the image, it was observed that the on the bottom right side of the clipping had the same text which shows it is was generated using the tool.
Similar text found on the clipping shared by Gurumurthy and generated clip
BOOM also found a source-based article by The Hindu dated September 29, 2001, titled 'Was Rahul Gandhi detained by the FBI?'
The article does not talk about the reason for the detention.
"With the U.S. security agencies leaving nothing to chance after the September 11 terrorist strikes, sleuths of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ``detained'' Mr. Rahul Gandhi, son of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and the Leader of the Opposition, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, for about an hour at the Boston airport early this week, sources here said." - The Hindu
The Hindu article on the incident Click here for an archive.
