An image of a petrol bill allegedly by an ‘HPL’ dealer named Sai Balaji Petroleum in Vikhroli in Mumbai, it is viral on social media. In the text along with the image, readers are asked not to vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi next time if they want to lower petrol prices.
The retail price of petrol and diesel has skyrocketed in the country in the last few days. This led to protests against the Modi government in various parts of the country by opposition parties.
The text along with one of these viral images reads: “If you want to lower the price of petrol, do not vote for Modi again”
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the fuel bill in circulation is false. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) – the Indian oil and gas company in India – also made it clear on their official Twitter manual that the bill is not genuine and does not follow their bill format.
The archived versions of similar posts can be seen here, here and here.
AFWA investigation
While we are carefully following the bill, we have found that the date mentioned on the bill is of the year 2018. Apart from various deviations in the font size and style of the bill, Sai Balaji Petroleum is an “HPL” dealer according to the bill. However, there is no such petroleum company in India. The abbreviation Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited is HPCL and not HPL.
We also searched for gas stations called Sai Balaji Petroleum in Vikhroli area in Mumbai. However, we could not find a petrol pump with the name.
In 2018, when a similar bill went viral, HPCL made it clear through its official Twitter handle that there is no such HPCL pump in Vikhroli. “There is no HPCL store in Vikhroli or elsewhere in Mumbai,” the Maharashtra-based petroleum corporation said. tweeted.
We also found another tweet by HPCL on February 23, 2021, where it makes clear that the format of the viral account in question does not match the format of the account followed by the company’s merchants. It is also stated that the name of the company is incorrectly mentioned in it as HPL.
The tweet read“The bill in question is a fake bill that has nothing to do with HPCL. The fake bill has the company name as” HPL “and has been floating around in digital media for a long time, with bad intentions. Real bill format by HPCL is attached for reference. ”
The tweet also gave a comparison between the viral account and the original account of HPCL.
Source of the relevant viral bill
In 2018, the fact-checking website SMHoaxslayer found that the account was taken from a set of sample images on the website of Goldmine Electrosystems Pvt Ltd, a manufacturer in Maharashtra and a seller of manual calculating machines.
AFWA compares the viral account to a similar account available on Goldmine’s website.
Including the vehicle number, we found several similarities between the viral bill and the sample bill available online.
We also searched for details of vehicle number MH04BZ9680, mentioned in the bill, on the Parivahan Seva website of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Parivahan Seva uses vehicle registration numbers to find vehicle owners. However, no details were found against this number on the website.
Therefore, it is clear that the bill in question is false and that the text is being voted against PM Modi in a sample bill that is available online.
ClaimAccording to a viral image of a petrol bill from Sai Balaji Petroleum in Vikhroli area in Mumbai, you should not vote for PM Modi again if you want to lower the petrol price. ClosureThe viral petrol bill is fake. The anti-Modi text is being processed into a sample bill that is available online. There is also no such filling station with the first name in Vikhroli.
JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE
The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie.
- 1 Crow: Half true
- 2 crows: mostly lies
- 3 crows: absolutely false
