Devendra Fadnavis’ Poster With Gun Falsely Linked to Baba Siddique Murder

These posters were put up after the encounter of the accused in the Badlapur school sexual assault case.

A poster showing Deputy Chief Minister of Maharastra Devendra Fadnavis holding a gun with the text "revenge is complete" is being shared on social media platforms.

Those sharing have claimed that such posters were plastered across Mumbai after Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique was shot dead in Bandra by three people who claim to have links with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi on 12 October.

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is this true?: No, the claim is false.

• These posters were put up in Mumbai after the alleged encounter of the accused in the Badlapur school sexual assault case to "laud" the state government for their efforts.

• The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that they were not the ones to put the posters.

What we found: We conducted a relevant keyword search and came across an article by the Hindustan Times from 26 September featuring one of the images in the viral post. This predates Siddique's murder, which happened in October.

• The report noted that following the encounter of Akshay Shinde, the accused in the Badlapur sexual assault case, unidentified people put up posters of Fadnavis across Mumbai, displaying the words "badla pura" (revenge accomplished). It was a word play on the city of Badlapur, where the incident took place.

• The piece also noted that the BJP put up these posters to one up their ally, Shiv Sena after praise was sung for CM Eknath Shinde.

• According to a report by the Indian Express from 25 September, a BJP spokesperson commented, “The BJP has not put up any posters. Our stand was cleared by Devendra Fadnavis himself on the very first day. We, the BJP, sincerely believe in the rule of law and follow it. We have no idea who has put up these posters."

• Several opposition leaders such as NCP's Supriya Sule criticised the public display of such posters with leaders holding guns.

Conclusion: The poster has been falsely linked to the murder of Baba Siddique.

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