FAKE ALERT: It is not Quattrocchi but Rahul Gandhi in this photo with Sonia

CLAIM
A presumably old photo of Congress president Sonia Gandhi is being shared with the claim that the man seen in this photo with her is Italian businessman and Bofors scam accused Ottavio Quattrocchi.

Using this photo, many users are making distasteful comments that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resembles the man in the photo, hence Quattrocchi must be his father and not former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi.

Many users posting this photo also referring to the Wayanad MP as ‘Rahul Khan’.


TRUTH
That’s Rahul and not Quattrocchi in this photo with Sonia. The photo was clicked in 1996 when the mother-son duo were attending a function of the special protection group.
VERIFICATION AND METHODOLOGY
Using reverse-image search, we found a larger version of the same photo carried by Yahoo News in a post dated June 19, 2020. Captioned ‘30 rare photos of Rahul Gandhi on his 50th birthday’, the photo was credited to Latestly.

Another reverse-image search on this photo carried by Yahoo News led us to a post dated June 19, 2020 from Latestly, which carried the same image.

The photo was captioned as ‘Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul at the raising day function of the Special Protection group’ and credited to news agency PTI.
Through the same reverse-image search, we also found the same photo in another post from The New Indian Express published on December 4, 2017. Text of the left side of the photo mentioned that it was clicked on April 8, 1996.

Also, here’s a picture of Quattrocchi. It is apparent that there is no resemblance between him and Rahul.

VERDICT
Times Fact Check has found that an old photo of Sonia Gandhi with son Rahul is being circulated with false claim that she’s hanging out with Bofors scandal accused Quattrocchi.