Claim
A fake newspaper clipping is being shared on social media falsely claiming that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was arrested at Boston Airport on charges of drugs possession and carrying unaccountable cash in 2001. The caption goes on to claim that Gandhi was released from custody only after the intervention of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, after he talked to US authorities upon Sonia Gandhi's request.
Fact
BOOM had previously fact-checked the same fake clipping in April 2019 when it was being shared with the false claim. The viral newspaper clip has been created using newspaper generating tools which can create similar looking clippings as seen in the viral image. We ran a reverse image search of the viral newspaper clipping which threw up links to Newspaper clipping generator tools that use the same format. We also found an archive of an article from The Hindu, dated September 29, 2001 that included the story of Gandhi being detained at Boston airport. The story mentions that Gandhi was detained at the airport following the enhanced security proceedings due to the September 2001 terror attacks in the United States. However, he was let go after some time. There was no involvement of drug possession in this incident.