Fact-check: The man in viral picture with Aus High Commissioner is not RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat, viral picture is misleading
One viral picture of Australian High Commissioner to India Barry O’ Farrell during his visit to meet RSS supremo Dr Mohan Bhagwat is misleading. He did meet Mohan Bhagwat, but there is one picture where he is seen standing with vyavastha pramukh, Hedgewar Smarak Samiti, Vikas Telang.
- By: Ankita Deshkar
- Published: Nov 24, 2020 at 08:23 PM
New Delhi (Vishvas News): Recently, Australia’s High Commissioner to India Barry O’Farrell met Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat in Nagpur. Amidst these reports, a picture of Australian High Commissioner is going viral, where he is seen doing namaste to a man. People are sharing the image claiming to be RSS chief Mohan Bahgwat. However, even when Australian High Commissioner to India did meet RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Vishvas News in its investigation found out that the man in the viral image is not Mohan Bhagwat but Vikas Telang.
Claim:
Vishvas News found the viral image shared by Megh Updates @MeghUpdates on Twitter. The user claimed, “In a Burnol Movement Australian High Commissioner meets @RSSorg Chief Dr Mohan Bhagwat and acknowledges the Organisation’s work in #Covid relief“
Check the post and its archive version here.
Investigation:
Vishvas News started its investigation with a simple keyword search and found the reports of Australian High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farrell meeting Rashtriya Sayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat in Nagpur.
Vishvas News found a report in The Economic Times titled: Australian High Commissioner meets RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Nagpur
Read the complete report here.
The report had used the tweets shared by the Australian High Commissioner to India and that is where we found the viral image.
It was one of the four images shared on the official Twitter account of Barry O’Farrell.
On closely observing the pictures we found that the person in the three pictures shared by Barry O’Farrell is indeed RSS chief Dr Mohan Bhagwat. However, the person in the fourth picture does not appear to be Dr Mohan Bhagwat.
We checked the pictures again and then searched for the pictures of RSS Headquarters on the internet. We found that there are two buildings attributed to RSS in Nagpur, one in Mahal, Nagpur which is the headquarter and another in Reshimbag which is Hedgewar Smruti Mandir.
We knew through reports that the Australian high commissioner had visited the Mahal karyalaya to meet Dr Mohan Bhagwat and hence we called up officials in Smruti Mandir.
Vishvas News came to know that the person in the picture along with Australian High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farrell is vyavastha pramukh, Hedgewar Smarak Samiti, Vikas Telang. Talking to Vishvas News, Vikas Telang said, “The person with him in the viral picture with
Barry O’Farrell is not Dr Mohan Bhagwat, but me. However, one can easily see Mohan ji in other pictures.”
We did social scanning of the profile that had shared the picture, the account Megh Updates was created in the year 2019. It has 48.8K followers.
Conclusion: One viral picture of Australian High Commissioner to India Barry O’ Farrell during his visit to meet RSS supremo Dr Mohan Bhagwat is misleading. He did meet Mohan Bhagwat, but there is one picture where he is seen standing with vyavastha pramukh, Hedgewar Smarak Samiti, Vikas Telang.
- Claim Review : Australian High Commissioner meets @RSSorg Chief Dr Mohan Bhagwat and acknowledges the Organisation's work in #Covid relief
- Claimed By : Megh Updates
- Fact Check : Misleading
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