Social media users have been sharing a picture of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with a woman, claiming that they are secretly married and even have two children. The source of the claim is being attributed to Wikileaks, an organisation that publishes news leaks and classified media.
However, as it turns out, there is no truth in these purported posts whatsoever as the woman seen in the picture with Gandhi is Spanish-American actress Nathalia Ramos.
The claim
Citing that Gandhi's alleged wife is from Columbia, posts on Twitter and Facebook further suggest that their two kids - 14-year-old son Niyak and 10-year-old daughter Mainak - are currently living in London.
Sharing the now-viral picture, a Twitter user on January 8, Friday, wrote, "According to Wikileaks, the lady in the below pictures is @RahulGandhi's wife then why @INCIndia is misguiding the nation by saying him, bachelor? Raga married a Colombian and they even have 2 children. 1- a14-year-old son Niyak 2- 10-year-old daughter Mainak."
The misleading post went on to garner over 6,000 likes and more than 2,500 retweets.
Another such post which drew a lot of attention read, "My sources reveal that Rahul Gandhi is married to this lady! They both have a son named Niyak & daughter Mainak! Now very soon the PIDIs will chant "Hamare agle nayak Niyak Gandhi hoga"."
Fact-check
On reverse-searching the image in question, the fact-checking desk of International Business Times, India, found that the woman who is claimed to be Gandhi's wife is actually a popular Spanish-American actress named Nathalia Ramos.
We also discovered the picture was originally shared by Ramos herself on her social media accounts back in September 2017 when she had run into Gandhi at an event at the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles.
"Last night with the eloquent and insightful @rahulgandhi. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to meet and listen to so many brilliant thinkers from all parts and perspectives of the world," Ramos had captioned the picture.
Furthermore, we ran a search on Wikileaks using relevant keywords in regards to the claim but did not come across any report on Gandhi's marriage.
Thus, we hereby conclude that the posts claiming to expose Rahul Gandhi's "secret family" are completely false.
