On December 26, 2024, India mourned the loss of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who passed away at the age of 92 at AIIMS, Delhi. As tributes poured in from across the nation, a photograph of Dr Singh in a hospital bed began circulating on social media, claiming to be his ‘last photo’.
The caption with the picture in hindi reads: पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह ने ली आखिरी सांस, अस्पताल से आई उनकी आखिरी तस्वीर। (English version: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh breathed his last. His last photo came from the hospital.)
The above post can be seen here (archive). More such posts can be seen here, here and here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the claim, and found it to be misleading.
Running the Reverse Image Search, the NM traced the photograph to an earlier post on X by @NBTDelli, dated October 14, 2021. The image was taken when Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, the then Union Health Minister, visited Dr Manmohan Singh at AIIMS, New Delhi.
Further keyword searches led to a video published on The Tribune‘s verified YouTube channel, dated October 14, 2021, corroborating the origin of the image.
Another report by ANI, dated October 14, 2021, confirmed that Dr Singh was admitted to AIIMS for fever and weakness. Dr Mandaviya had tweeted about his visit to inquire about Dr Singh’s health.
आज पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री डॉ. मनमोहन सिंह जी से AIIMS, नई दिल्ली में मुलाक़ात की व उनके स्वास्थ्य के विषय में जानकारी ली।
मैं उनके शीघ्र स्वस्थ होने की कामना करता हूं।
— Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) October 14, 2021
A closer comparison revealed that the viral image had been cropped to remove Dr Mansukh Mandaviya from the frame. The edited version retained only Dr Manmohan Singh and Dr Randeep Guleria, the former director of AIIMS, who is now associated with Medanta Hospital, Gurugram.
The claim was further debunked by more recent images of him in public. In October 2022, Dr Singh was photographed casting his vote during the Congress presidential elections. He was also seen voting in the Lok Sabha elections in May 2024.
Thus, the viral claim suggesting that it is the last picture of Dr. Singh from the hospital bed in AIIMS is misleading.
