Recently, a video of an Indian woman named Jimisha Avlani being arrested by US police for allegedly stealing goods worth about $1000 from a ‘Target’ supermarket has spread on social media.
In this context, some pictures have been circulated on various internet platforms with the headline, “The lady is a BJP leader. Her name is Jimisha Avlani. She went to America on a tourist visa to meet her daughter and was caught stealing goods worth about $1300, which is more than 1 lakh 10 thousand Indian rupees, from an American supermarket ‘Target’…”
See posts circulated with this claim on Facebook here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).
See the video circulated on YouTube here (archive).
Fact-Check
The Rumor Scanner team’s investigation reveals that among the photos circulated with the claim about Jimisha Avlani’s arrest for shoplifting in the US, one is not authentic, and the other is not related to her shoplifting incident. In reality, an AI-generated image and a photo from a different woman’s shoplifting incident in Mexico have been circulated with the claim.
Rumor Scanner has separately verified the images circulated with the said claim.
Image Verification – 1
Through investigation, a video was found on the YouTube channel of the Mexican media outlet Zócalo, published on May 1. A scene from this video matches the first picture circulated with the claim.
The video’s title indicates that a woman was arrested for pretending to be pregnant to steal items from a store. The video description states that the woman in the video attempted to steal items from a Coppel store inside Plaza Patio in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. She feigned pregnancy by hiding several items under her clothes.
The same image and information were found in a report published on the website of another Mexican media outlet, Excelsior, on May 2. It was also learned that this incident occurred in Mexico on April 29. This report did not mention the Indian woman named Jimisha Avlani.
Therefore, the first picture is from a shoplifting incident where a woman pretended to be pregnant in a shopping mall store in Mexico.
Image Verification – 2
Through investigation, a photo was found on a website listing arrests in McHenry County, Illinois, USA. This photo partially matches the second picture circulated with the claim.
The website states that Jimisha Avlani was charged with “720-5/16-25(a)(1) – RETAIL THEFT – taking merchandise from a retail establishment with the intent to deprive the merchant of its value” and was detained by the Algonquin Police Department.
It is mentioned that the picture on the website is the official mugshot of the arrested Jimisha Avlani. While her face, clothes, and surroundings match, the circulated photo shows her wearing a hat with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) symbol and a scarf around her neck, which are absent in the official mugshot.
Observing the circulated photo, Rumor Scanner noticed several inconsistencies. There are discrepancies in the lotus designs on both sides of the hat, and her scarf has a distorted ‘B’ on a green background, which is a common indicator of AI editing.
To further confirm, the image was verified on the AI content detection platform Hive Moderation, which showed a 99% probability of it being created by AI.
Therefore, an AI-generated image and a photo from a separate shoplifting incident in Mexico have been falsely circulated with the claim that they show the Indian woman, Jimisha Avlani, wearing a BJP hat after being arrested for shoplifting in the United States.
Sources
- Zócalo – YouTube Video
- Excelsior – Website
- Jimisha’s Mugshot – Website
- Hive Moderation – Website
