zara_sharif_ twitter handle active as and neeraj_chopara_ doing wonders and fooling people on social media

News Claim: There is numerous fake Twitter handle of Gold Medalist Neeraj Chopra mostly supporting Punjab farmers agitation has gone viral on social media. The most recent neeraj_chopara_ widely active and shared  

Viral message on WhatsApp today & other Social Media claims:

 

 

News Verification: Numerous Twitter and Facebook handle has been created in the name of Neeraj Chopra. He won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and became the first track and field athlete to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics.

Most of the twits shared on Social Media are pro farmer’s agitation going on in and around Punjab and New Delhi. More people not only joined the fake Twitter handle, but they also liked the support of Neeraj. However, none of the tweets was from the Gold Medalist.

The real Twitter handle of Neeraj Chopra is “@Neeraj_chopra1”, it has around 5Lakh of followers, whereas the fake Twitter handle “@neeraj_chopra_” has  24,000 followers on the Twitter handle. The archived version of the account can be seen here.

Below is the screenshot of the original Twitter handle of Neeraj

 

We further searched for the Fake handle and found some users already pointing to the fact that it is not a real account. One user twitted and wrote, “Earlier this handle was being run under the name Zara (zara_sharif_). Seeing the opportunity, Neeraj Chopra became. Twitter ID: 1339895042933104642”

 

 

We further searched for 1339895042933104642 it pointed to the same person @neeraj_chopra_

Who is zara_sharif_

We further searched for @zara_sharif_ account and found that it no longer exists. However searching for cached versions over the internet, we found some interesting facts.  We found a profile as, “Student Jamiya Millia Islamia \ Anti CAA NRC protestor... No Dm 🙏”

The Twitter IDs of both @zara_sharif_ and @neeraj_chopara_ are the same and hence of the same person.

 

The fake Twitter account is still active and people are falling prey to it.

News verdict: False, The original Twitter handle belonged to @zara_sharif

About The Author

Ashwin Roy is an Indian fact-checker and news writer, writing news for Ayupp since 2014.

You Might Be Interested In

Latest On Ayupp.com