Fact-Check: This Image of Amritpal Singh Standing In Front of a Mosque is Edited

The original photograph of Amritpal Singh was taken from his LinkedIn profile.

Fact-Check: This image of Amritpal Singh has been edited to place him in front of a mosque.

(Photo: The Quint)

An old photo of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh Sandhu standing in front of what looks like a mosque has gone viral amid the hunt for Singh by Punjab police.

The claim: Those sharing the image have claimed that Singh is not a Sikh and instead a "Pakistani agent". The claims also insinuate that Singh belonged to the Muslim community.

TV Panelist Dr Syed Rizwan Ahmed shared the image with a caption: "Neither a Sikh nor an Indian!"

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

(Archives of the more such posts can be found here and here.)

The truth: The claim is misleading as the image has been edited to put Singh in front of a mosque. Singh's original photo was taken from his LinkedIn profile.

Who is Amritpal Singh?

• Singh is a 30-year-old Dubai-returned Sikh preacher and leader of the organisation Waris Punjab De from Punjab.

• The organisation was formed by actor-activist Deep Sidhu before his death in February 2022.

• Singh claims to draw inspiration from Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and has made calls for a separate Sikh homeland - Khalistan.

• He is currently on the run, while several of his aides have been arrested by the Punjab police.

How did we find that out:

• We conducted a reverse image search of the viral image with the keywords "Amritpal Singh", leading us to his LinkedIn profile.

A link to the profile can be found here.

(Source: LinkedIn/Screenshot)

• The background in the image was different from the one in the viral image, which can be seen in this side-by-side comparison below.

A comparison of the viral image with the original image.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

What about the building in the background:

• A reverse image search of the cropped part of the image led us to stock images of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.

• The photograph in the background of the viral image seems to be from the website of a Dubai-based consulting and travel agency.

Conclusion: An edited image of Sikh leader Amritpal Singh has gone viral to make a false claim about him.

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