A video of actress Rakul Preet Singh walking out of a medical and provision store in Bandra's Pali Hill is going viral with netizens misidentifying Singh as actress Deepika Padukone and claiming that the latter was spotted buying alcohol during the ongoing lockdown.
Liquor stores which had opened in Mumbai on May 4, 2020 as per the Maharashtra government's instructions to operate standalone shops in red zones, were then asked to close down.
Mumbai's municipal corporation - BMC on May 6 decided to discontinue operations of standalone liquor shops and non-essential outlets keeping in mind the increasing numbers of COVID-19 positive cases in Mumbai.
The video, captured by Bollywood photographer Viral Bhayani's team, shows Singh come out of the medical-provision store after shopping. The clip is doing the rounds with the caption, "Deepika Padukone buying liquor in Mumbai..... Best example in social distancing..... No servants.........No drivers."
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BOOM received the video on its helpline number for verification.
The same is being shared on Facebook with the above caption.
Video is of Rakul Preet Singh and not Deepika Padukone
BOOM reached out to Viral Bhayani, who clarified that the video was shot on the evening of May 5 by his team at the Pali Market in Bandra West. Bhayani said, "Rakul was out to buy essentials, when we shot the video. It was shot near the provision and medical store at Pali Market from which she stepped out." The video can be found on Bhayani's verified TikTok account as well.
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In a tweet Singh put to rest speculations about her stepping out to buy liquor. She retweeted a tweet by a Bollywood news and trade information handle KRK Box Office which speculated her venturing out during the lockdown period and clarified that she was out to buy medicines. Click here to view the archive of KRK Box Office's tweet.
KRK Box Office had incidentally identified Rakul Preet Singh as Deepika Padukone in a now deleted tweet. Netizens called out the handle for peddling misinformation.
Additionally, BOOM was also able to ascertain that Singh was stepping out of the Modern Medical and Provision stores located in Pali Market. Below is a frame by frame comparison of the area seen in the video and photos of the medical store found on Google Maps. The photo was uploaded on Google Maps in 2017.
The yellow circle in both the frames shows the green and white awning that is visible in both the stores. Text spelling out Star Travels, located near the medical and provision store, can also be seen in both the frames (circled in red).