Photo of Sheela Bhatt with Dawood Ibrahim misidentified as Congress Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate.
Claim
The name of this woman seen with Dawood in this picture of 1987 is Supriya Shrinate. This is the national spokesperson of Congress, you can often see him talking shamelessly in foul language in TV debates. Now I understand why this abusive woman fights with everyone ,,
Rating
Explanation
An old image showing a woman with Dawood Ibrahim is viral with the claim that she is Congress Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate. Multiple social media posts are being shared mentioning that the name of the woman seen with Dawood in this picture of 1987 is Supriya Shrinate. The posts further mention “This is the national spokesperson of Congress, you can often see her talking shamelessly in foul language in TV debates. Now I understand why this abusive woman fights with everyone”.
@SupriyaShrinate 1987 कि इस तस्वीर में दाऊद के साथ में दिखाई दे रही *इस महिला का नाम सुप्रिया श्रीनेत है* जो आजकल
*कांग्रेस कि राष्ट्रीय प्रवक्ता है* इसको अक्सर आप टीवी डिबेट में बेशर्मी से बेहुदा भाषा से बात करते हुए देख सकते हैं pic.twitter.com/6aKErmxLho— Nation First (@Rajeshs80285686) June 20, 2023
The photo was initially shared including the name of Supriya Shrinate by Amitabh Chaudhary and later amplified by social media users. Some of the posts question if it is Supriya Shrinate and some claim that it is Supriya Shrinate. The post in Hindi reads as “1987 कि इस तस्वीर में दाऊद के साथ में दिखाई दे रही इसमहिला का नाम सुप्रिया श्रीनेत है,, यह कांग्रेस कि राष्ट्रीय प्रवक्ता है इसको अक्सर आप टीवी डिबेट में बेशर्मी से बेहुदा भाषा से बातकरते हुए देख सकते हैं,, अब समझ आया कि यह गालीबाज औरत क्यों सभी से लड़ती झगड़ती है,,”. This photo is viral on Facebook. Some of the posts can be seen here, here and here.
What is the truth?
When reverse-searching the viral image we found that the person in the photo with Dawood is not Supriya Shrinate but Sheela Bhatt. We found a tweet dated 14, June 2023 by Journalist Sheela Bhatt with the viral image mentioning that it was captured in 1987 when she was interviewing Dawood Ibrahim, an underworld don in Pearl Building, Dubai.
Sheela Bhatt also further tweeted that she was flooded with queries on if the photo is fake or real. She posted two photos of weekly magazines, Abhiyaan and The Illustrated mentioning that both carried her interview with Dawood Ibrahim in 1987. She also stated that her interview ran along with the cover story written by journalist Amrtia Shah. She included that all of Dawood photos were taken by her.
The weekly magazines seen in the tweet are dated July and December 1988. Sheela Bhatt mentioned that the viral photo was taken in 1987. Supriya Shrinate mentioned her age as 41 during Lok Sabha 2019 elections. Sarkarnama reported that Supriya Shrinate was born on 27, October 1977 in Uttar Pradesh. So she was only 10 years when the photo was taken in 1987.
Conclusion
It is found that the photo of journalist Sheela Bhatt taken during an interview with Dawood Ibrahim is misidentified as Congress Spokesperson, Supriya Shrinate.
