Old Image of MS Dhoni Visiting Gurdwara Shared With Misleading Context

The image could be traced back to at least 2022 and is being falsely linked to the ongoing farmers' protests.

Fact-Check | This image is old and is being falsely shared as a recent one.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

An image of former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is being shared to claim that he was seen recently visiting a Gurdwara amid the ongoing farmers' protests.

What are users saying?: An X (formerly Twitter) premium user shared the image with a caption that said, "Mahendra singh Dhoni didn’t go to Ram mandir Pran prathisthan after being invited but he has visited Gurudwara today during ongoing Farmer’s protest. MSD is a man with spine who is still upholding secular values (sic)."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

The post had garnered over four lakh views on the platform. (You can view archives of other similar claims here, here, and here.)

What is the truth?: We found that the viral image could be traced back to at least 2022 and is being falsely linked to the ongoing farmers' protests.

What led us to the truth?: A reverse image search directed us to the same photo uploaded on a handle named 'Gurpreet Singh Anand' on 26 February.

• The user identified himself as the President of Khalsa Jatha in the account's bio.

• However, several users pointed out that the image is old.

Several users said that the image is old.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

• Following this, we performed a keyword search and found an image uploaded on the same handle.

• The image was shared on 1 October 2022 with a caption that said, "I met MS Dhoni a couple of months ago at the Gurdwara @khalsajatha in London and noticed he was calm, at one with himself and able to absorb the spiritual moment. It's that inner calmness that gives fortitude in situations which may stress many others out."

• It showed both men wearing the same attire as seen in the viral image.

The image was uploaded on 1 October 2022.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

• Team WebQoof further checked Anand's social media handles and found a cropped version of the viral image uploaded on his Instagram account.

• It was shared on 17 July 2022 and was captioned, "Bowled over with the legendary @mahi7781."

Conclusion: It is clear that the image is old and is being falsely linked to the ongoing farmers' protests.

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