Social media is now abuzz with images purportedly showing Indian cricketers like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma posing with and taking blessings from Premanand Maharaj. One of three such images shows MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya with Premanand Maharaj, another shows Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma bowing down to him, and the third features Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma receiving blessings.
The above post can be seen here. (Archive)
NM VERIFIED
NewsMobile verified the claim and found the images to be digitally manipulated.
Searching with relevant keywords to verify the authenticity of these images, NewsMobile found no media reports or credible sources featuring these images.
It is to be noted that Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma have visited Premanand Maharaj in the past, but these specific images are not found in any credible news media. The official social media handles of the cricketers have also not shared these viral pictures.
Had these visits with Premanand Maharaj actually taken place, they would have attracted mainstream media attention for coverage.
Additionally, the AI-detection tool, Hive Moderation, confirms that the images are AI-generated.
Therefore, we can conclusively say that the viral images claiming to show Indian cricketers with Premanand Maharaj are not real but Ai-generated.
