No, this is not a photo of Kangana Ranaut with Abu Salem’s brother

Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has been at the centre of media attention since actor Sushant Singh Rajput died by suicide in June. Ranaut, who has blamed the film industry and Rajput’s former girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty for his death, has taken it upon herself to bring ‘justice’ to the dead actor. This has led her to criticise Mumbai police and Shiv Sena’s government in Maharashtra. Following her remark terming Mumbai ‘Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’, parts of her office deemed illegal by Maharashtra administration were torn down and the actor was provided Y security by the central government. She is now embroiled in a row with chief minister Uddhav Thackery.

In the backdrop of this never-ending spectacle is the latest social media claim about Ranaut that she partied with criminal mastermind Abu Salem’s brother. This claim is viral along with an image where Ranaut is seated next to a man. Abu Salem has been convicted of multiple crimes, including the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. He was feared in Bollywood for extorting money from film producers and actors and seizing overseas distribution rights. He reportedly worked for Dawood Ibrahim.

Former Shiv Sena MLA Shishir Shinde posted (archived link) the viral image with the claim that Ranaut was photographed with Abu Salem’s brother. “अरेरे?राज्यपाल महोदय,तुम्ही राजभवनावर पाहुणचार केलेली तुमची खास पाहुणी अबू सालेमच्या भावासोबत अशी नशा करायची?राजभवनची शान घालवली तुम्ही!म्हातारचळ म्हणतात याला,” he wrote in Marathi.

अरेरे?राज्यपाल महोदय,तुम्ही राजभवनावर पाहुणचार केलेली तुमची खास पाहुणी अबू सालेमच्या भावासोबत अशी नशा करायची?राजभवनची शान घालवली तुम्ही!म्हातारचळ म्हणतात याला! @maha_governor @CMOMaharashtra @AUThackeray @ShivsenaComms @rajivkhandekar @zee24taasnews @ibn_lokmat pic.twitter.com/Op11qkFubJ

— Shishir Shinde (@ShishirShinde1) September 14, 2020

Congress leaders Nagma and former Shiv Sena MLA Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil also shared the viral image.

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The image has also been shared with a message in Bengali—”আবু সালেম’এর সাথে এটা বোধহয় আমির খান।”

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Fact-check

Alt News performed a reverse image search on Google and found a 2017 Huffington Post editorial piece that carried the image. The article is titled, “Kangana Ranaut should realise she’s too talented to milk her personal life for attention.” It has been penned by journalist Mark Manuel who is also the person with Kangana Ranaut in the photograph.

“Like the time the featured picture was taken at the Korner House in Khar some months ago,’ read the report.

Manuel had shared the picture on both his Instagram and Facebook accounts. He wrote that it was shot at the Korner House in Khar at a champagne brunch to celebrate Ranaut’s film ‘Simran’.

A 2017 photo of Kangana Ranaut with journalist Mark Manuel was shared with the false claim that she was photographed with criminal mastermind Abu Salem’s brother.