Following the tragic demise of Dr Manmohan Singh on December 26, several social media users shared a photo, claiming it was the last picture of the former PM that showed him bedridden. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that the photo dated back to October 2021 when Singh was admitted to Delhi AIIMS after suffering from fever, reportedly dengue. The three-year-old photo was shared on social media as recent with a false claim.
92-year-old Singh breathed his last at Delhi’s AIIMS on Thursday night. He served as the prime minister of India twice, from 2004 to 2014. Singh had retired from the Rajya Sabha earlier this year after a 33-year-long service in the House.
Claim:
An X (formerly Twitter) user, named ‘Raju Verma’, shared on December 26 a photo, claiming it was the last picture offormer PM Dr Manmohan Singh before his demise on December 26.
The caption, originally in Hindi, translated to: “Last photo of Manmohan Singh ji. Salute to such a great personality who took the sinking economic condition of the country to new heights.”
Here is the link and archive link and below is the screenshot of the same.
Investigation:
The Desk ran the photo through Google Lens and found an uncropped version of the picture posted by ‘NBT Dilli’ on X in October 2021. The photo showed the then Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and a doctor standing beside him.
The caption of the post read: “Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya arrived to meet former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh admitted in AIIMS.”
Here is the link and archive link and below is the screenshot of the same.
Taking a cue from this, the Desk conducted a customised keyword search and came acrossa PTI report, carried by Business Today published on October 14, 2021, whose headline read: “Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya meets Manmohan Singh at AIIMS”
Here is the link and below is the screenshot of the same article:
On further scanning the search results, we also found a video report by The Tribune uploaded on YouTube three years ago. The title of the report read: “Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya meets Manmohan Singh at AIIMS, enquires about his health”
Here is the link to the video and below is a screenshot of the same:
In the next part of investigation, the Desk conducted a customised keyword search and came across an X post by Mandaviya, shared on October 14, 2021, in which he informed about visiting Manmohan Singh at AIIMS.
Here is the link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the same:
During its investigation, the Desk also came across a report by Dainik Bhaskar, published on October 16, 2021. The report was on the controversy that erupted back then over the photos from Mandaviya’s visit to AIIMS to meet Manmohan Singh. The former PM’s daughter Daman Singh had expressed her anger on the photo being made public.
Here is the link to the report titled, “Manmohan Singh’s daughter got angry at Mandaviya: When the picture of her father lying on the hospital bed was made public, she said – My parents are not zoo animals”. Below is a screenshot of the same:
The report quoted Daman Singh as saying, “My mother had refused to take the photo. My father is undergoing treatment for dengue at AIIMS. His condition is stable but his immunity is low. We have banned visitors due to the risk of infection. It was nice to have the Health Minister visit and express his concern. However, my parents were in no position to be photographed at that time. My mother insisted that the photographer should leave the room but she was completely ignored. She was very upset about this.”
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that viral photoactually dated back to October 2021, when Singh was admitted to Delhi AIIMS.
Conclusion: Multiple social media users shared a photo of Dr Manmohan Singh, claiming it was the last photo of the former PM that showed him bedridden before his demise on December 26. It was found that the viral photo dated back to 2021 when Singh was admitted to Delhi AIIMS on complaint of fever and weakness. The three-year-old photo was recently shared on social media with a false claim.
(This fact-check article was originally published by PTI Fact Check and has been republished by Lighthouse Journalism as a part of Shakti Collective.)
