A set of viral screenshots of tweets claiming actor Sushant Singh Rajput took to Twitter to inform everyone about his mental health and hinted at, 'ending everything', are fake. BOOM was able to confirm from a source in Twitter that the screenshots of the tweets are fake.
The screenshots are being widely shared on WhatsApp and were also reported by news outlets as posts tweeted by Rajput, hours before his death.
Several media outlets including Aaj Tak, India.com, News Track Live, falsely reported these screenshots calling them real and attributing them as the actor's last tweets.
The 34-year-old actor, Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his apartment in Bandra in Mumbai on June 14, 2020. The Mumbai police has in its prima facie investigation ruled the death as a case of suicide.
Aaj Tak falsely reported on the fake tweets stating that Rajput posted three tweets which he later deleted on June 14, 2020, hours before his death, however the channel later deleted the tweet and took down the article. News website India.com first reported the tweets to social media users but later changed its article into a factcheck without stating that it had earlier reported the fake tweets as real.
The viral fake screenshots claim the actor tweeted about the mental health being ignored, how he has been struggling with hardhips and also has him bidding goodbye and "ending all this" and hoping that people learn to communicate better. One of the screenshots also says, "I will be deleting these tweets in a while...." which was also widely shared and reported by news channels with social media posts also using it as proof of why the tweets can't be seen on his account anymore.
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Newstrack Live also reported on the viral screenshots in its article stating that the tweets revealed the 'reason' for his suicide.
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India.com earlier version of the article
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Viral on social media
The same screenshots have been widely shared on WhatsApp and Twitter.
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BOOM received the viral screenshots on its WhatsApp helpline number (7700906111) inquiring about it.
Also Read: No, Rahul Gandhi Did Not Call Sushant Singh Rajput A Cricketer
FACT-CHECK
BOOM analysed the viral screenshots and found that the actor did not tweet them and they are fake. There were several discrepancies in the tweet images which pointed that they were fake and had been edited.
We also reached out to a source within Twitter who confirmed to BOOM that the viral screenshots of the tweets are fake.
A look at Rajput's Twitter timeline shows that the actor last tweeted on Dec 27, 2019 with no recent tweets since.
WayBack Machine a digital archiving tool and found that the actor's timeline had been archived thrice on June 14, 2020, however, none of the screengrabs captured showed any recent tweets or tweets matching the text in the viral screenshot.
We also ran a Twitter advanced search using Rajput's Twitter handle @itsSSR and failed to find any replies to any such deleted tweet by the actor on the mentioned date and time -- 5.43 am on June 14, 2020 in the screenshots.
The advanced search results from June 14, 2020 to June 15, 2020 also showed that there were no replies to any deleted tweet and the first mention with the handle name was at 8.38 am on June 14, 2020.
We then the analysed the screenshots and found several discrepancies in the text, format and alignment, showing that the screenshots are fake and not taken from an actual tweet.
VIEW TWEET ACTIVITY VISIBLE
On observing the viral screenshots, one can see the 'view tweet activity' option which can only be accessed and seen by the account user who has tweeted the post and not to others on Twitter. This means the 'View Tweet Activity' option would only be visible to Rajput on his account and not to his followers or other users.
DISCREPANCIES IN THE TEXT
All the three viral screenshots, show the timing of the tweet in 'am' unlike how Twitter actually shows it, in capital letters. The viral screnshot shows the time as '5:43 am' instead of 5:43 AM, as is the format followed by Twitter.
See example below
Additionally, the alignment of the profile picture with the tweet body (the text) did not the match the actual format of Twitter. As seen below the profile picture in the viral tweet is extending towards the left and not in a straight line with the text body unlike the screenshot on the right where the picture and text body are in a straight line.
Additionally, the viral screenshots also did not include any likes and retweets which was cut out from the image. BOOM has previously debunked fake tweet screenshots attributing fake tweets to famous personalities. (here, here)
Also Read: Fake Condolence Tweet Now Viral As Amit Shah Calling Sushant Singh Rajput A Cricketer