Fact Check: Viral Photo of Shashi Tharoor in Plaster Cast is From 2022, Not Recent

Created By: Factly

Co-Published By: LokmatTimes.com

A photo of Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor resting on a bed with a plaster cast on his leg has gone viral on social media, with claims suggesting he was injured recently. To verify this, Factly conducted a reverse image search, leading us to an ‘X’ post made by Tharoor in December 2022. In the post, he explained that he had badly sprained his left foot after missing a step in Parliament.

A bit of an inconvenience: I badly sprained my left foot in missing a step in Parliament yesterday. After ignoring it for a few hours the pain had become so acute that I had to go to hospital. Am now immobilised w/a cast, missing Parliament today&cancelled wknd constituency plans pic.twitter.com/Ksj0FuchZZ

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 16, 2022

Further research reveled several news reports from 2022 confirming the incident. Factly also examined his recent social media posts but found no mention of any new injury. Tharoor’s only reference to the viral photo came in a tweet on December 12, 2024, where he clarified that he was in good condition and criticized the spread of his old photo.Thus, the image in question is from 2022 and is being misrepresented as a recent injury.

When the usual troll factory is reduced to circulating a two year old picture of mine with a sprain led foot, accompanied by picayune comments, one realises how desperate they are for a distraction! For all those expressing concern about my well-being, I am pleased to say that…

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 12, 2024

This story was originally published by Factly  and republished by LokmatTimes.com  as part of the Shakti Collective.