Viral ad claiming Amit Shah is ‘wanted by Interpol’ is fake

The verdict: false

The viral image has been digitally altered. Interpol has not issued any such notice against Indian Home Minister Amit Shah.

What is the claim?

A photo issued by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) is circulating on social media, with a photo and the name of Indian Home Minister Amit Shah. The photo is accompanied by a claim that Shah has been added to “Interpol’s wanted list”.

The post surfaces on the recent background CHARGES by a Canadian government minister that the Shah ordered the targeting of Sikh separatists in Canada. India has since then he answered to the accusations, calling them “absurd and baseless”.

The viral image shows text across the top that reads ‘INTERPOL WANTED’ along with the name ‘Amit Anilchandra Shah’, Age ’60’ and claims he is wanted by ‘CANADA’ for a ‘Murder Plot’.

A user X (formerly Twitter) shared this photo and wrote: “Reliable sources have informed that Indian Home Minister *Amit Shah* has recently been added to *Interpol’s watch list*. Shah is in hot water after Canada’s deputy foreign minister accused him of authorizing killing sprees against Canadian Sikh citizens.” An archived version of this post and similar posts can be found Here, Here, Here, Here, Hereand Here.

However, we have found no evidence that Interpol has issued any such ‘wanted’ notice against Shah.

What are the facts?

I searched using relevant keywords and could find no credible report suggesting that Interpol had issued a “wanted” notice against Shah.

I then checked all Interpol social media accounts and found no such notification. We also looked at the section on Red Notices issued by interpolate on its website, but found no report or notice naming Shah. According to the website, a red notice is a request to law enforcement agencies around the world to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action. I didn’t find Shah’s name under either Yellow notifications.

Moreover, on a general searchwe found that a few results, including a report from 2019, carried Shah’s name, but none of them mentioned any arrests or notices issued to him, indicating that the viral ad was fake.

What discrepancies did we find?

We noticed some differences between the viral image and the genuine notices published by Interpol.

The Authentic Interpol the 2019 notices show the person’s surname in capital letters, while the country name and other details are written in sentence format in capital letters. Instead, the country name is capitalized in the viral image, while the family name is capitalized in the title. Also, the reason you are wanted is in the caps of the headlines in the viral image, unlike the genuine Interpol notices.

In addition, recent social media posts from 2024 posted by Interpol on its website Facebook and X accounts (archived Here and Here) shows that format for Red Notices is now different.

India-Canada row

On 14 October 2024, Canada expelled several top Indian diplomats from the country, claiming that they were “persons of interest” in the June 2023 assassination of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. In responseIndia also expelled six Canadian diplomats, calling the action a “baseless targeting” of Indian officials.

Canadian authorities claimed to have shared evidence with Indian authorities that Indian government agents were involved in Nijjar’s murder. Indian government officials called such allegations absurd and denied that any evidence had been shared with them.

verdict

A viral photo showing Indian Home Minister Amit Shah wanted by Interpol is fake. No news report supports the claim that Shah was on the Wanted list and no record of any such announcement could be found on Interpol’s official website.

This report first appeared on logicalfacts.comand was republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Other than the title, no changes have been made to the ABP Live report.