Is Akhilesh Yadav and his wife paying respects at gangster Atiq Ahmed’s grave? – Know the truth

The image was taken in November 2022 when Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav visited Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grave.

The political atmosphere across the country has been heating up recently over the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. In this scenario, an image of Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav at a grave has gone viral on social media with the claim that they were seen paying their respects to the gangster and politician Atiq Ahmed.

Atiq Ahmed, a former mafia member turned politician and his brother Ashraf were shot dead in front of the media in Prayagraj on 16 April, 2023.

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Fact Check- 

A reverse image search of the viral image led us to a report from The Morung Express, published on 14 November, 2022 carrying the viral image. As per the report, the couple paying their tributes to the late Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav’s father and former chief of the Samajwadi Party. The couple visited the late politician’s resting place before Dimple Yadav’s filing her nomination for the Mainpuri assembly by-election. 

In further search, we came across the same image on Dimple Yadav’s Twitter account.  She shared the viral image confirming the visit to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s memorial site. 

Mainpuri seat got vacated after Mulayam Singh passed away on 10 October 2022 at Medanta Hospital, Gurugram. Many media outlets reported about Akhilesh and Dimple Yadav’s visit to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grave at that time. So it is clear that an old picture is being shared with a false claim. 

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral image to be False. The image was taken in November 2022 when Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav visited Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grave. An old image is being shared with a false claim.