Recently, on October 6, spiritual speaker Aniruddh Acharya made an appearance as a guest on the grand premiere of Bigg Boss 18. During this event, he presented actor Salman Khan with a copy of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita and blessed the contestants on the show. Meantime, a picture of Salman Khan and Aniruddh Acharya has gone viral on social media. In the photo, Acharya can be seen touching Salman Khan’s feet. Many users believe it to be real.
Similar claims can be seen here, here, here and here. (Archive link)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the claim, and found it to be false.
Thoroughly reviewing the Bigg Boss 18 premiere episode, the NM team could not find any moment showing Anirudh Acharya touching Salman Khan’s feet.
Closely analysing the image further, we noticed that the hand positions and postures of both individuals in the photo didn’t match, suggesting the image might have been altered. Even the original image, which was shared by Anirudh Acharya Ji Maharaj on his Instagram handle, dated October 6, 2024, shows Acharya Ji presenting Salman Khan with a copy of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita. It confirms that the viral image is edited.
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Interestingly, on October 11, Acharya Ji took to Instagram to share an image revealing the individual responsible for editing the viral photograph. He described in the post: “Heartfelt thanks to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Superintendent of Chachai Police Station for their commendable action in teaching a lesson to those spreading misleading and defamatory photos of respected Maharaj Ji, along with false rumours.”
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This confirms that the viral image was manipulated.
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