Fact-Check: This Man Standing With Kangana Ranaut Is Not Gangster Abu Salem
The man with Kangana Ranaut is Times of India's former entertainment editor Mark Manuel, not Abu Salem.
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A photo showing Bollywood actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Mandi, Kangana Ranaut, posing for a photograph with a man has gone viral on social media amid the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
What is the claim?: Those sharing the photo are claiming that Ranaut was photographed with incarcerated gangster Abu Salem.
How did we find out?: The Quint had previously debunked this in 2020, when the photograph had gone viral with the same claim.
While looking for more claims with the keywords 'Kangana Ranaut Abu Salem', we came across a post by one Mark Manuel on Facebook.
Sharing a post in September 2020, Manuel shared the viral photo, along with screenshots of several fact-checks, clarifying that he was the man in the photo with Kangana Ranaut.
The post said that Mark Manuel was the person in the photograph, not Abu Salem.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
On comparing this viral photograph to one of Salem's, we saw that the two men did not share any physical resemblance.
A comparison clearly shows that the man is not Abu Salem.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
Under a claim shared in 2023, Ranaut had also clarified that the photograph was of Mark Manuel, and not Abu Salem.
Conclusion: A photo of Kangana Ranaut with journalist Mark Manuel has gone viral with the false claim that the man is gangster Abu Salem.
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