A picture of a pyre on fire is going viral across social media, with numerous Pakistan-based handles posting that it is the last rites of the Rafale pilot Rohit Kataria, who was martyred on May 7 in Pakistan's retaliatory attacks after India commenced Operation Sindoor.
The photograph has gone viral during the ongoing India-Pakistan conflict. Dozens of unverified pictures like this one have been making the rounds and getting attributed to the geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan. The recent crisis was sparked by a terrorist attack that left 26 civilians dead in Pahalgam, Kashmir, on April 22.
X user @DI313_ posted the picture with the caption that Squadron Leader Rohit Kataria's death ceremony was going to take place on May 12. "He leaves behind his wife, Shalini Chaudhary, and 2-year-old son, Chandan," said the caption. The user had posted a 5-digit number, 32292, along with Kataria's name. It appears to be a badge or service number. During the writing of this post, the post received more than 150,000 views.
A few other X users, such as verified accounts @IntelPk_ and @War_Analysts, posted the picture with the same assertions. (Archived copies here, here, and here.) The image and assertions were also trending on Facebook.
Fact Check
According to a government press release from January 202, in which he was mentioned as a group captain and pilot.
Rohit Kataria, service number 27443, was given the Vayu Sena Medal for dedication to duty.
On reading the details, it is discovered that the service number provided in the social media report did not match the actual service number.
The social media reports circulated by Pak mentioned the service number as 32292. upon researching it was discovered that the service number 32292 was denoted to squadron leader Inder Setiaand and not to Rohit Kataria.
Additionally, the Indian Air Force has firmly stated that its pilots have safely returned home. Therefore, it was evident that the picture did not depict an IAF officer's last rites.
We then went ahead and did a reverse image search and discovered a report in September 2011 from CNN entitled "India's burning issue with emissions from Hindu funeral pyres" that employed the same photo as a representative picture. The photo was captioned, "Hindus pay last respects at a mass cremation of 15 schoolgirls on the banks of the river Orsang in Bamroli in the Indian state of Gujarat, April 16, 2008," and had been taken by AFP/Getty Images.
We also discovered the same photo at Getty Images. The caption of the 2008 mass cremation photograph stated that 44 individuals, a majority of whom were children traveling to school, drowned after their bus fell into the Narmada canal in Bodeli in Gujarat.
Notably, when keyword research was conducted, it revealed several news reports from the period. As per a report in India Today, the accident occurred approximately 70 km from Vadodara in the pre-dawn hours of April 16. The bodies of 44 people, including the conductor, were recovered. The Vag-Bhod village bus was headed to Bodeli. All but five of the children were between eight and 10 years old.
Currently, a 2008 photo of a group cremation of schoolgirls who died in an accident close to Vadodara is being shared with the assertion that it is the funeral of a Rafale martyr in Pakistani attacks. To date, the Indian Air Force has not announced the martyrdom of any pilots.