No, PM Modi Didn't Click Cheetahs' Photo With a Closed Lens; Photo Is Edited

The image is from Kuno National Park, where the prime minister released the cheetahs on 17 September.

Fact-Check: PM Narendra Modi's photo has been altered to show a covered lens. 

(Photo: The Quint)

Several Congress leaders and social media users shared a photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to claim that he clicked pictures of the cheetahs brought from Namibia with a closed lens.

On 17 September, the prime minister, on his birthday, released the eight cheetahs' into Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park.

However, we found that the shared picture was edited. The original picture, shared by the Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) verified Twitter page, shows Modi clicking pictures but there is no lens cap.

CLAIM

Several Congress accounts like the Rajasthan Youth Congress national secretary Ishita Sedha, Maharashtra Congress Seva Dal, and Uttar Pradesh Congress MLA Virendra Chaudhary shared the photo.

Former IAS and Rajya Sabha Trinamool Congress MP Jawhar Sircar and state president of Samajwadi Lohiya Vahini’s (Uttar Pradesh) Ram Karan Nirmal shared the image too.

An archive of the post can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Similar posts can be seen here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We found the image on the official Twitter handle of the BJP's Gujarat unit. The images from Kuno National Park were shared on 17 September and the original one didn't show him holding a camera with a lens cap on.

We noticed that the camera was 'Nikon', a Japanese company, and the lens cover showed 'Canon', another Japenese company.

The camera is 'NIKON' and thecover says 'Canon'.

(Source: The Quint)

The viral photo has been flipped and edited to add the lens cap.

Comparison between the viral image and the original image.

(Source: The Quint)

Clearly, an edited video of PM Modi holding a camera with a closed lens is going viral.

(The story was first published on Quint Hindi on 18 September.)

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