UNP working committee finally decided unanimously to approve UNP Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa as their Presidential candidate after a number of discussions on September 26th and subsequently various posts were published supporting this decision.
We found one photo claim in which award-winning actress and famous TV host Nehara Peiris was seen holding a photograph of Sajith Premadasa. The translation of the claim stated “I am very happy now and have been waiting for a long time to see Sajith become the Presidential Candidate” as shown below.
| Facebook Link | Archived Link |
Same photo claims were seen being shared by a few other users as well and below is one such claim.
| Facebook Link | Archived Link |
Fact Check
We decided to go a Google Reverse Image search on this photo and were unable to find a direct photo match to the claimed photo. Then we searched the social profiles of Nehara Pieris and were able to find a photo as below in her Instagram profile where she is seen holding a photograph of award winning-singer Uresha Ravihari.
This image which had been published on August 17th carried this caption. “Thank you soooo much @designatorcj for this extremely Beautiful Handmade BEAD Portrait❤️❤️ gosh it’s so much work, patience and talent!! All the best, and DM them to get yo bead, collage portraits?”
| Instagram Photo Link | Archived Link |
Further investigation of the Nehara’s Instagram account revealed that she had made a statement about a similar fake photo claim on 25th September stating that “I have noticed an edited post going viral on social media with my image. Please note that I DON’T support any political party or their campaigns!!”
In that photo claim Nehara has compared the original photo from her Instagram along with a screenshot of an edited version published by a Facebook page called “Dema දෙමා” in which she is seen holding a photo of SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa. However, when we inspected the mentioned fake photo claim, we noticed that post had already been deleted by the Facebook page.
| Instagram Link of Nehara | Archived Link | Facebook Link of Nehara | Archived Link |
Conclusion:
From our investigation, it is evident the claim that “I am very happy now and have been waiting for a long time to see Sajith become the Presidential Candidate – Nehara Peiris” is totally false and the image is an edited version of the original image published in the Instagram profile of actress Nehara Peiris.
Title:Nehara is elated on Sajith becoming presidential candidate?
Fact Check By: Sathyajith SubasingheResult: False
