The person with Sonia Gandhi in this photo is Rahul Gandhi, not Ottavio Quattrocchi - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 8, 2021
A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the person in the photograph with Sonia Gandhi is Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman and a key figure in the Bofors Scandal. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Sonia Gandhi photo with Ottavio Quattrocchi.
Fact: The image shared in the post os of Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi at the raising day function of the Special Protection Group, taken on 08 April 1996 in New Delhi. It has nothing to do with Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman and a key figure in the Bofors Scandal. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search was done on the photo in the post, we found the new Indian express photo gallery published on 04 December 2017 titled ‘Happy Birthday Rahul Gandhi: From mourning son to political heir, here are rare moments from Congress chief’s life’ with the same photo as in the post. The article in the caption says the photo was of Sonia Gandhi, Congress President, and her son Rahul at the raising day function of the Special Protection Group and that it was taken on 08 April 1996 in New Delhi and was credited to PTI. Another article also says the same that photo is of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
According to an article in the Mint, Ottavio Quattrocchi was an Italian businessman and a key figure in the Bofors Scandal. The Bofors chargesheet filed in 1999 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had named Quattrocchi, who was close to the Gandhi family during his days in India. As the representative of an Italian firm, he was one of the accused in the case regarding the ₹ 64 crore payoffs for supply of Swedish Howitzer guns to the Indian Army, says the article. But on 04 March 2011, a Delhi court discharged Quattrocchi from the payoffs case after allowing the CBI to withdraw prosecution against him, bringing to an end a major chapter in the 25-year-old Bofors saga, says the article. News articles about Ottavio Quattrocchi can be seen here and here.
To sum it up, picture of Sonia Gandhi with Rahul Gandhi is being shared as that with an Italian Businessman, Ottavio Quattrocchi.