An old image of MS Dhoni goes viral linking to farmers’ protest

This is an image from 2022 captured when Dhoni visited a Gurdwara in London

An image of former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni at a Sikh Gurudwara went viral as the farmers' protests entered their third week. Users who shared it claimed that image was taken recently, during the ongoing protests by farmers. The caption states, “Mahendra Singh Dhoni participated in farmers protest yesterday in Gurudwara Salute to this man MSD Icon”.

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Fact Check-

We began our investigation by conducting a reverse image search on Google, which led us to a post on Twitter by Gurpreet Singh Anand on 26 February, 2024. It carried the viral image with the caption, “Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the @khalsajatha.” Khalsa Jatha is a Gurudwara in London.

In response to this post, many people commented that the image is not recent but from 2022. Keeping this in mind, we checked Gurpreet Singh’s other social media handles and found a similar image he uploaded on Instagram on 17 July 2022. The caption states, “Bowled over with the legendary @mahi7781”.

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A post shared by Gurpreet Singh Anand (@gurpreet.singh.anand)

From this, it is clear that the image is from 2022 and unrelated to the ongoing farmers’ protest.

We also found several media reports from 2022 stating that Dhoni was in London around the same time. The Times of India video report of 17 July, 2022 states that “Former India captain MS Dhoni was chased by fans for a selfie with him in the streets of London. The 41-year-old cricketer is in England for a while and he celebrated his birthday with his wife, friends and a few Indian cricketers as well”.

Hence, we can ascertain that the viral image is old and was unrelated to farmers’ protest.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be Misleading. The viral image is from 2022 captured when Dhoni visited a Gurdwara in London. It has nothing to do with the farmers’ protest.