Fact check: No, PM Modi didn't depart in taxi after meeting Pope Francis in Vatican [truth here]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Pope Francis amid his a three-day trip to Italy to attend the G20 Leaders' Summit made the global headlines, but also unleashed a plethora of rumours and fake news. Social media is abuzz with an image of PM Modi getting inside a taxi after he met the Pope in Vatican.

The claim

Several users on Twitter have shared an image of PM Modi boarding a taxi as he was departing after meeting Pope Francis in Vatican. In the image, a Volkswagen Passat with a taxi plate on top can be seen parked as the Indian PM is seen getting inside.

The image went viral in no time, with many taking a dig at the PM for using a taxi in Italy without his own motorcade. In some photos, the taxi plate was under the license plate of the car.

Fact check

International Business Times reviewed the claims and the viral photo on social media. We did a reverse image search of the viral image to see the original source and found the image to be fake. Many news outlets shared pictures of PM Modi arriving in Vatican to meet the Pope in a Volkswagen Passat. The original image of PM Modi boarding the Passat before after meeting the Pope was tweeted by ANI on Saturday and the car did not have a taxi plate on it.

Upon a closer look, the colour of the taxi nameplate can clearly be seen superimposed on the original image. The colour of the photoshopped "taxi" plate is richer in contrast compared to the rest of the image. Also, the stand holding the taxi plate clearly looks photoshopped and it is positioned in the wrong place. Also, if you look at the car behind, the taxi plate has been photoshopped and it's not even centered.

Pope Francis received Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a private audience at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican on Saturday, the first such meeting between an Indian Prime Minister and the head of the Catholic Church in more than two decades. Modi was accompanied by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar. The Prime Minister also extended an invitation to Pope Francis to visit India at an early date, which was accepted with pleasure, it added.

Based on all the evidence, IBTimes has arrived at the conclusion that the image of PM Modi using a taxi in Vatican is photoshopped.