‘Spy’ Jyoti Malhotra With Akhilesh Yadav? No, Here’s The Fact Behind Viral Photo

A purported photograph of Jyoti Malhotra, a YouTuber from Haryana who was recently arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan, sharing a stage with SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav has gone viral on social media platforms.

Multiple X and Facebook users shared the image with “#देशद्रोही_सपा”, and questioned what the alleged spy was doing with the Kannauj MP. Newschecker, however, found that the photo was manipulated.

Such posts can be seen here and here.

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Fact Check/Verification

A Google Lens search on the viral image led us to a report by NDTV, dated January 22, 2017, titled “Uttar Pradesh Elections 2017: BJP Handed ‘Jhaadu’ To The People, Says Akhilesh Yadav.” 

It featured a photo, similar to the viral image, showing Akhilesh Yadav with his wife, Dimple Yadav, releasing the Samajwadi Party manifesto for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Polls.

On comparing the viral image with the photo of the SP leader featured in the NDTV report, we could conclude that the former was manipulated. We found that Dimple Yadav’s face was swapped with Jyoti Malhotra’s photo to falsely show the alleged Pakistani spy with Akhilesh Yadav. 

Multiple outlets such as this, this and this featured the actual photo showing Akhilesh and Dimple Yadav unveiling the SP manifesto for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Elections.

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Notably, several online platforms enable users to superimpose a person’s face on another in a photograph or video. Newschecker used one such AI-based “face swapping” tool to swap Dimple Yadav’s face in the original photograph with that of Jyoti Malhotra’s, to demonstrate how the viral manipulated image was likely created. The same can be seen below. 

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Conclusion

Hence, we find that the viral image claiming to show alleged spy Jyoti Malhotra with Akhilesh Yadav was manipulated. 

Sources
Report By NDTV, Dated January 22, 2017
Remaker.ai Website