Fact Check: Viral image of PM Modi bowing to Nita Ambani is morphed

Former Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar has landed in controversy by sharing a fake morphed photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. In the photo shared by Sircar on Twitter, PM Modi is seen bowing with folded hands to the chairperson and founder of Reliance Foundation, Nita Ambani.

Sharing the photo of the PM, Sircar wrote in a tweet, "Wish fellow parliamentarians and others in politics also received such courtesy and bonhomie — from their permanently-scowling PM. In a mature democracy, we would know the two-way relationship, favours, transactions. Some day, history will tell us."

However, Sircar deleted the photo after users pointed out that it is fake.

Claim

Photo of PM Narendra Modi bowing with folded hands to Mukesh Ambani's wife Nita Ambani.

Let me tell you what happened.
It's been an hour since this former IAS officer tweeted this fake, photoshopped and manipulated picture.
Numerous people pointed it out to him.
He either blocked them or hid those replies.
Imagine what kind of IAS officers served our country before pic.twitter.com/3810ZdiRFz

— Soumyadipta (@Soumyadipta) June 7, 2021

Fact Check

This is a morphed photo. The face of Nita Ambani has been put in place of someone else. We found that the original photo is from 2018 and shows PM Modi greeting a social worker, Deepika Mondol, who was visiting the Rashtrapati Bhawan for an event with her husband, Samar Mondol.

This bigot @jawharsircar sharing edited picture of PM Modi was CEO of Prasar Bharti during Congress. Imagine the filthy propaganda he must be running.

This is the real image. The lady is Deepika Mondol who runs an NGO. https://t.co/LyzxcNvm6s pic.twitter.com/Q2DxaxQuAG

— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) June 7, 2021

Deepika Mondal runs an NGO called Divya Jyoti Cultural Organisation and Welfare Society.

Current CEO of Prasar Bharati, Shashi Shekhar Vempati reprimanded Sircar for sharing the morphed image. He said, "Disgusting & shameful that a morphed image is being circulated in this manner. It is one thing to not like a person. But it is reprehensible that a former CEO of the Public Broadcaster and former Culture Secy is publicising fake images. We are truly embarrassed by these actions."

Disgusting & shameful that a morphed image is being circulated in this manner. It is one thing to not like a person. But it is reprehensible that a former CEO of the Public Broadcaster and former Culture Secy is publicising fake images. We are truly embarrassed by these actions. https://t.co/gSkmHVHSKI

— Shashi S शशि शेखर (@shashidigital) June 7, 2021

Kanchan Gupta, a veteran journalist and former advisor to Atal Bihari Vajpayee slammed Sircar and wrote, "A former Secretary to Govt of India is intentionally tweeting morphed images to slander PM Modi. @Twitter provides a platform for #ManipulatedMedia and rewards such folks with a ‘Blue Tick’ to lend credibility to #FakeNews. This is how @manishm does the bidding of @jack Company."

A former Secretary to Govt of India is intentionally tweeting morphed images to slander PM Modi.@Twitter provides a platform for #ManipulatedMedia and rewards such folks with a ‘Blue Tick’ to lend credibility to #FakeNews
This is how @manishm does the bidding of @jack Company. pic.twitter.com/0kOcb1bpbP

— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) June 7, 2021

The image shared by Sircar is fake and has gone viral on social media before as well. Earlier, the woman in the original image was misidentified as Priti Adani, wife of Gautam Adani who is the chairman of the Adani Group.