A photo of a businessman from Mohali, Punjab named Goldy Brar photographed with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is being shared with a false claim that he is Canada based gangster Goldy Brar who has allegedly taken responsibility for killing singer Sidhu Moose Wala.
The photo of the gangster's namesake from Punjab went viral with false claims prompting him to issue a video statement asking people to not share his photos and that he is not the murder accused.
Twenty eight-year-old Punjabi rap singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu who was popular by his stage name - Sidhu Moose Wala, was shot dead in Jawaharke village of Mansa district in Punjab on Sunday evening. The attack on Moose Wala came a day after the Punjab government reduced his security detail by half. Moose Wala's songs were popular among youngsters for showing free usage of guns and violence and the singer had earlier had also been booked for promoting gun culture. The singer had joined Congress ahead of 2022 Assembly elections in Punjab.
Viral posts of a businessman from Punjab - Goldy Brar posing with Mann are being shared with captions in Hindi claiming the gansgter had links to the Aam Aadmi Party government in the state. The captions translate to, "the man in this photo standing next to Bhagwant Mann is Goldy Brar who has claimed responsibility for killing Sidhu Moose wala."
(Original text in Hindi - इस फोटो में जो भगवंत मान के साथ खड़ा Goldy Brar है इसी ने सिद्धू मूसेवाला की हत्या की जिम्मेदारी ली है)
The same claim is viral on Facebook and Twitter
FACT CHECK
We looked at the viral photo and found that it was a Facebook picture uploaded on March 10 from an account named - Goldy Brar. Using this as a clue, we ran a search for the name on Facebook and found an account which matched the one in the viral posts.
We found that the account was of a person named - Goldy Brar - a businessman from Mohali. The viral photo of him posing with Mann was uploaded by the account on March 10, 2022 with the caption - Congratulations Cm Saab
View the photo here
We then contacted Brar who said that his photo is being misused and shared with false claims. Speaking to BOOM, Brar said, "My name is also Goldy Brar and I am a resident of Fazilka. My photo with Bhagwant Mann is going viral since yesterday. That photo was taken during the Punjab elections." He added that he is a businessman and has no connection to the gangster Goldy Brar who has been accused of murdering Sidhu Moose Wala.
Brar also uploaded a video appeal on his account asking people to not share his photo and asking the government to take actions against those who are sharing it.
Additionally we looked through news reports which photos of Goldy Brar the gangster who has allegedly taken responsibility for the murder of Moose Wala and found that he looked different from the man in the viral photo. A file photo of Brar published by India Today can be seen below -