Fact-check: Old Images Used to Push Claim About Rape and Murder in Assam

Social media users shared the pictures to claim that the woman was killed by her Muslim partner.

Fact-check: Social media users fabricated a story about a rape and murder in Assam using old images from 2010.

(Photo: The Quint)

A collage of three distressing photographs, which shows a dead body inside what appears to be a freezer, is being shared on the internet with a claim that the pictures are of a woman who was killed by a person called 'Gaffar' in Assam.

The posts refer to the Shraddha Walkar murder case giving the said incident a communal colour.

(Note: We have refrained from using any archive links to the pictures due to the distressing nature of the visuals.)

The viral claim.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

The story was also published on Hindi news website NewsTrack, which didn't carry any images but the details were similar to what was mentioned in the social media posts.

The truth: The images have been on the internet since at least 2010. However, we have not been able to independently verify the details of these pictures.

• We found no news reports on any such incident. Further, Assam police has labelled the social media posts as "fake" and said that no such incident has happened.

How did we find that out?: We conducted a reverse image search on each of the images and found a Portuguese blogpost from 2010.

The images were found in a blogpost from 2010. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

• According to the blogpost, a 45-year-old man killed and kept the body of his wife in a freezer at his home in Osasco, in the Greater São Paulo region of Brazil.

• The images have been shared multiple times in blogposts and image-posting sites. We found news reports of the incident but none used the viral pictures.

What did the police say?: Assam police put out a post on Twitter calling the posts "fake". They also said action would be taken against those sharing the viral collage.

Conclusion: The images have been on the internet since at least 2010. And as per the police, no such incident has happened in Assam.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)