Old poster of Devendra Fadnavis brandishing a gun falsely linked to Baba Siddique killing

New Delhi: A poster showing Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis holding a gun has gone viral on social media. The poster reads "Revenge Complete" and users sharing it claimed it was put up after the recent murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique.

The PTI Fact Check Desk, however, found that the viral image predated the killing of Baba Siddique on October 12. In fact, the controversial poster was put up in various parts of Mumbai by unknown individuals in September 2024, following the encounter of Akshay Shinde, the accused in the Badlapur sexual abuse case.

A user of the microblogging platform X shared the poster on October 15, writing, "A former minister, politician, and industrialist from Maharashtra has been murdered. After that, posters with photos of Maharashtra's Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, saying 'Revenge Complete', were put up across Mumbai. Does this mean Fadnavis orchestrated the murder? Can such a poster be put up all over the city without his consent? What direction is the country heading in? God save this country (sic)."

This post has been viewed over 35,000 times, and the number is increasing.

To verify the claim, the Fact Check Desk conducted a reverse search of the viral image using Google Lens and found it in a news report published by Hindustan Times on September 26.

The report mentioned that after the death of Shinde, who was accused of sexually abusing two girls in Badlapur, in a police encounter, posters showing Fadnavis holding a gun with the caption "Revenge Complete" were put up overnight in areas such as Kherwadi, Andheri, Lalbaug, and Sion in Mumbai.

Some posters were later removed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), according to the news article.

Google searches with relevant keywords also led the Fact Check team to media reports on Aaj Tak, TV9 Hindi, and News18. These reports confirmed that such posters were put up by unknown individuals after Shinde's encounter in Mumbai, without any mention of a specific leader or party.

Siddique, also a former Maharashtra minister, was shot dead outside the office of his MLA son Zeeshan Siddiqui on October 12. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang reportedly claimed responsibility for the murder.

As part of its investigation into the viral image, the PTI Fact Check Desk reached out to the agency's Western Region editor Vilas Tokale, who confirmed that both images were from the posters put up after the encounter of Akshay Shinde, the accused in the Badlapur sexual abuse case, and they were unrelated to Siddique's murder.

Based on the findings so far, it is clear that the viral poster predates Siddique's murder. Users are sharing an old image with a false claim on social media. Read the full fact-check report here: https://bit.ly/3Uh9Fo2