Fact-Check: Image of Suresh Chavhanke & His Wife Viral With False Communal Claim

Chavhanke said on Twitter the viral post is fake and threatened to take legal action against those spreading it.

An image of a news bulletin purportedly from Hindi news channel Aaj Tak is being shared to claim that right-wing propaganda channel Sudarshan News' Editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke's wife Maya Suresh Chavhanke has eloped with a Muslim man.

(More archives to similar claims can be found here, here, and here.) We also received a query about the post on our WhatsApp tipline.

What is the truth?: The image is fabricated. The picture and texts have been added to a template available on the internet. Chavhanke, on his Twitter, said that the viral post is fake and threatened to take legal action against people who are spreading the post.

How did we find out?: At first we noticed a discrepancy in the supposed news bulletin.

• The spelling of Chavhanke is different and incorrect in one of the bands.

• A reverse image search on the picture of Chavhanke with his wife led us to the same picture uploaded on his Twitter handle on 27 September 2020.

मेरी धर्मपत्नी, मेरे प्रत्येक संघर्ष में मेरे साथ कंधे से कंधा लगा कर लड़ने वाली अर्धांगिनी @mayachavhanke को जन्मदिवस पर बड़े आशीर्वाद और अनुज शुभकामनाएं दें.. pic.twitter.com/oDfv4VBNcj

— Suresh Chavhanke “Sudarshan News” (@SureshChavhanke) September 27, 2020

• On performing another reverse image search on the entire template we came across a similar one as seen in the viral post. It was named 'free breaking news layout'.

• The template was uploaded on a website called 'MTC Tutorials'

• A comparison clearly shows that the template has been edited to add the picture and texts to create the viral claim.

Aaj Tak's breaking news format: We went through the channel's social media handles and found a video where the breaking news format is completely different than what is seen in the viral post.

What did Chavhanke say?: On his Twitter handle, Chavhanke uploaded the viral post's screenshot and said that the post is "fake". He said that his family is a staunch Hindu like him. He further mentioned that he would taking legal action against those spreading the misinformation.

विरोधियों द्वारा #Fake पोस्ट वायरल किया जा रहा हैं। मेरा परिवार मेरे जैसा ही कट्टर हिंदू हैं

मेरे साथ तर्कों और सिद्धांतों की लड़ाई हारने का यह लक्षण है कीं विकृत मानसिकतावाले तत्त्व मेरे परिवार की बदनामी पर उतरे हैं।
मैं अन सभी पर क़ानूनी कार्रवाई करूँगा।@Uppolice @Twitter pic.twitter.com/7TWSInlQKH

— Suresh Chavhanke “Sudarshan News” (@SureshChavhanke) April 25, 2023

Conclusion: A fake screenshot of a news bulletin which claims that Sudarshan News Editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke wife eloped with a Muslim man is going viral on social media platforms.

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