News outlets share morphed image of Pulwama mastermind

On February 18, Indian security forces killed Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist Ghazi Rasheed in an encounter in Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir. Rasheed was the mastermind behind the February 14 Pulwama attack.

Almost all major news outlets reported this development. However, some of them failed to notice the obvious inauthenticity of Rasheed’s image. India Today, Economic Times, MoneyControl and Outlook carried the following image in their reports:

A Twitter user named Shuvankar Mukherjee pointed out that this image of Rasheed is quite unconvincing for one particular reason: the uniform worn by Rasheed, which includes a baton and a taser, is one used by the police. It is unlikely to be sported by a terrorist.

A reverse image search on Google throws up the image of a Brazilian cop, not Ghazi Rasheed.

Alt News reports that Ghazi’s image was made using an app called Police Suit Photo Frame Maker. In this application, one of the templates features a uniform and shape identical to the photograph of Rashid, Bon Jovi and several others found online.