A post going viral on social media (here, here, and here) shows a young man with a garland of flowers around his neck. The post claims that the man in the photo is Ram Gopal Mishra, who was recently murdered in Bahraich communal violence in Uttar Pradesh. Let’s verify the claim through this article.
Claim: The photo shows a garland on the picture of Ram Gopal Mishra, paying tribute to him after his murder in Bahraich communal violence in Uttar Pradesh.
Fact: The viral picture is not of Ram Gopal Mishra, but of Raghavendra Shukla, a senior digital content producer at NavBharat Times. His profile on the NavBharat Times website revealed he is a journalist. Additionally, Raghavendra Shukla clarified in a Facebook post that his photo is being wrongly shared as Ram Gopal Mishra in connection with a tribute to Mishra’s death. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of the screenshot of the viral image led us to a similar picture that was featured on the Navbharat Times website. According to the information on the author page of Navbharat Times, the person in the viral photo is identified as Raghavendra Shukla, a senior digital content producer.
The collage below shows the differences in facial features between Ram Gopal Mishra and Raghvendra Shukla.
For more information, a keyword search led us to a Facebook post by Raghavendra Shukla dated 18 October 2024, where he clarified that his picture was being falsely shared as Ram Gopal Mishra.
We also found that the Navbharat Times published a report (here) on the same issue.
To sum up, a journalist’s photo is falsely shared as a tribute to Ram Gopal Mishra who was recently killed in Bahraich violence.
