FAKE ALERT: Uddhav is not watching Republic TV here, image is doctored

CLAIM
A photo of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray circulating on social media platforms shows him watching news channel Republic TV.
The image is being shared amidst allegations of ‘TRP scam’ leveled on Republic TV by Mumbai Police commissioner Parambir Singh.

Users sharing this image are taking a dig at Maharashtra government and Mumbai Police. It is being sarcastically claimed that Uddhav also received money from Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami for watching his channel.
The photo is being shared with hashtags like #IStandWithRepublic, #RepublicFightsBack etc.



TRUTH
It is a digitally-altered version of the original picture, where Uddhav can be seen participating in a video conference with PM Modi.
VERIFICATION AND METHODOLOGY
Using reverse image search, we traced the original photo to a photo gallery on Outlook India. In the original image, we can see PM Modi on the TV screen in front of Uddhav.
The image is credited to news agency PTI and captioned as, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with Maharashtra CM Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray via video conference on COVID-19 preparedness, during the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.”

On closely observing the digitally-morphed version of the image carrying footage from Republic TV, we notice that hashtag #CantBlockRepublic is visible.
Taking a cue from this, we scoured through the official website of Republic and found a report published on September 11, 2020.
Titled ‘Arnab Shreds Desperate Shiv Sena Bid To Block Republic; Appeals To Viewers To Join Fight’, the report carries a 4-minute-long video in which Goswami can be seen taking on Uddhav.
At 0:13 in the video, one can see exactly the same visual which has been digitally-morphed on the image of CM Uddhav attending a video conference with PM Modi, to make it look like that the Shiv Sena chief is an avid viewer of Republic TV.

VERDICT
Times Fact Check has found that the image of CM Uddhav watching Republic TV is doctored.