An image of Maharashtra cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray, sitting in the driver's seat of a car with a woman next to him, is viral with the claim that it shows Thackeray sitting with actor Rhea Chakraborty. Captions suggest that Thackeray's supposed link with Chakraborty, as evidenced by the image, is the reason why Mumbai Police is not investigating the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who was rumoured to be in a relationship with Chakraborty.
We found this to be false; the image was taken on June 13, 2019, and it shows Thackeray sitting in the car with actor Disha Patani, and not Chakraborty. Thackeray and Patani, who also happen to share their birthdays on that day, were out on a lunch together to celebrate, when this photo was taken.
Also Read: Fake Twitter Account Of Sushant Singh Rajput's Sister Surfaces
Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Bandra, Mumbai on June 14, 2020. The Mumbai police prima facie ruled the death as a case of suicide. However, there have been numerous conspiracy theories surrounding his death.Following this, Rajput's father had filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Chakraborty for abetting suicide.
The viral image has been doing rounds on Facebook with the caption: "Aditya Thackeray with Rhea Chakraborty, that's the reason why Mumbai police is not investigating the ssr case."
Aditya Thackeray is Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's son and the state's cabinet minister of tourism and environment.
Click here to view an archived version of the post.
We found the same image to be viral with similar caption in Hindi as well.
Click here to view an archived version of the post.
The same was also shared on Twitter multiple times with similar captions suggesting that Thackeray is sitting in the car with Chakraborty.
Click here to view an archived version of the tweet.
Fact Check
A reverse image search on the viral photo led us to a series of links from June 2019, which spoke about Thackeray having an outing with actor Disha Patani, on their birthday. Thackeray and Patani both share their birthdays on June 13.
Articles by Times Of India and entertainment news website PinkVilla clearly state that the person in the photo with Thackeray is Patani. Furthermore, there is no mention of Rhea Chakraborty anywhere in the articles.
We put images of Patani and Chakraborty (taken from their Instagram handles) next to the image of the woman in the viral photo, for closer comparison.
Left: Disha Patani; Middle: Woman in the viral photo; Right: Rhea Chakraborty.
Upon comparing, it becomes clear that the person in the car with Thackeray is indeed Disha Patani and not Rhea Chakraborty.