Fact-Check: This Singer Is Not Related to Mohammad Rafi

The video shows Gitanjali Rai, a devotional singer and a life coach.

Fact-check: The claim states that the singer in the video is Mohammad Rafi's relative, Musthafa Parvez. 

(Photo: The Quint)

A video of a woman singing devotional songs is being shared on social media with a claim that it shows, Musthafa Parvez, the daughter of veteran singer Mohammed Rafi.

Some of the claims also suggest that she's the granddaughter of Rafi.

However, this isn't true. The woman in the video is Gitanjali Rai, a singer and a life coach.

Moreover, none of Rafi's daughters are named Musthafa Parvez.

CLAIM

The video is being circulated on social media since 2018 and the claim states that the singer is Mohammad Rafi's relative.

An archived version of the post can be seen here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

A different video of the same singer was also shared with the same claim.

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

The Quint also received a query about this on our WhatsApp tipline.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We divided the video into multiple keyframes and performed a reverse image search of some of them on Google Images, which led us to a YouTube video of a singer named Gitanjali Rai Official Channel.

This video was uploaded on 14 April 2013 and the description read, "Chinmay Mission organised a Beautiful Presentation of wonderful composition sung By Gitanjali Rai."

The viral video can be seen from 1:12 in this original video.

We also found a video uploaded by the singer's official channel on 11 August 2019, where Rai dismisses the claims about being Musthafa Parvez, Mohammad Rafi's daughter or granddaughter.

The Quint reached out to Gitanjali Rai's team, which clarified that the claim and the viral post were false and that Rai was not related to Rafi.

According to Rafi's page on IMDb, an online database of information, none of his daughters or granddaughters are named Musthafa Parvez, as claimed.

Clearly, a singer named Gitanjali Rai was misidentified as Musthafa Parvez, and linked to the legendary singer Mohammad Rafi.

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