Old in-flight selfie with Gujarat former CM Rupani falsely shared as his last before AI-171 crash; Fact Check
A selfie image showing former chief minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani, who was killed in the June 12 Air India plane crash, has been shared widely on social media with claim that it was his last photograph before the crash.
It may be noted that the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner flying from Gujarat’s Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick Airport crashed into a medical college hostel minutes after taking off on June 12, 2025, killing all but one of the 242 people on board. And a DNA match confirmed that Rupani was killed in the crash.
Coinciding with the tragedy, a selfie by a woman wearing a face mask with Rupani in the background was shared widely online, including several media outlets.
Former Chief Minister Vijay Rupani tragically lost his life in the Ahmedabad #planecrash
This was the last photograph of him before boarding the flight. 🙏
Om Shanti 🙏#अहमदाबाद Boeing पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री विजय
BJ Medical College pic.twitter.com/LuOmarbiPp— Nayika .. (@nayika_nayika) June 12, 2025
FACT CHECK
Digiteye India received a request to fact-check the image, which ws going viral. Since, the selfie shows both the person taking the picture and another person sitting behind Rupani with mosks, we checked for the authenticity of the claim that it was the last one capturing the former Gujarat CM.
When we performed a Google Reverse Image Search, we found a link to the following tweet, where the BJP leader Majid Ladhani from Daman clarified that the image was from 2021 when the Covid-19 pandemic and its rules on mask were strictly observed inside the aircraft. See the clarification here:
Lina Goswami, the woman in the image, told India Today that the image does not show her on the day of the fatal crash but it was taken on October 12, 2021.
Sir Old Pic 2021 pic.twitter.com/XwNlxyCFun
— Majid Ladhani 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 (@majidladhani1) June 12, 2025
Furtherr search on X showed another video where the former CM was shown just before entering the airport.
The last video of former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani at Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport was captured on June 12, 2025, moments before he boarded Air India Flight AI171, which tragically crashed shortly after takeoff pic.twitter.com/juI0ArXqML
— UP BK NEWS📰 (@UP_BKSH) June 14, 2025
This video, confirmed by news outlets NDTV here shows Rupani earing a blue Nehru jacket and entering the airport, not in white as shown in the selfie. Secondly, inside the ill-fated flight AI-171, a selfie video by two British nationals also captured Rupani dressed in a navy-blue Nehru jacket, and talking over the phone as he walks through the departure lounge.
Shortly before the fatal crash of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad, two British nationals waiting to board the plane were seen joking and smiling in what would become their final video.
In a story posted to their wellness page, Wellness Foundry, founders Jamie Ray Meek and… pic.twitter.com/XRSKFid3BF
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) June 12, 2025
Hence, the claim in the image of a woman in mask is false.
Claim: Selfie by woman in-flight with Gujarat former CM Rupani was the last image of him before the June 12 Ahmedabad plane crash.
Conclusion: Misrepresentation. The selfie was taken in 2021 inside a flight and not the one taken before the AI-171 flight crash on June 12, 2025.
Rating: Misrepresentation — 
