Viral WaPo screenshot claiming Pannun ‘staged attack on himself’ is fake

What is the claim?

A screenshot of an article, purportedly published by The Washington Post, is circulating online with the claim that U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Sikhs for Justice founder and Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun might have staged an attack on himself.

The purported article's headline reads: "An Assassination Plot on U.S. Soil Reveals a Darker Side: Pannun May Have Staged Attack on Himself to Implicate India." The text in the screenshot suggests that U.S. intelligence agencies believe Pannun may have staged the attack, though it does not confirm India’s involvement.

Arun Pudur, a user on X (formerly Twitter) known for spreading misinformation, shared the screenshot with the claim, “Why are we not talking about this?! After 1 year of investigation, the U.S. found Pannu faked an attack on himself to implicate India.” As of this fact-check, the post had 168,000 views, 5,200 reposts, and over 200 comments. Archived versions of similar posts can be accessed here, here, and here. 

Screenshot of the viral social media post (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts) 

According to a BBC report, on December 22, 2023, the U.S. accused the Indian government of plotting to assassinate Khalistan activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The report claimed that an Indian national and a government official had tried to hire a hitman to kill Pannun in the U.S., but the hitman was an undercover federal agent. India said it would investigate the allegations.

However, the Washington Post did not publish such an article. The screenshot circulating online is fabricated.

What did we find?

A search on The Washington Post's website revealed no such article. The screenshot lacks a dateline and author’s name and includes photos of Joe Biden and Pannun that are not credited—uncharacteristic of The Washington Post.

The purported article also contains grammatical errors and incoherent sentences, such as “Pannun could have staged attacked on himself” and “no Indian angle have been found yet.”

Discrepancies in the purported article (Source: X)

The headline seen in the viral screenshot is partially lifted from a genuine Washington Post article published on April 29, 2024. The original article, titled “An Assassination Plot on American Soil Reveals a Darker Side of Modi’s India” (archived here), discusses the alleged involvement of the Indian Foreign Intelligence arm, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in the plot against Pannun and how U.S. intelligence agencies thwarted it.

Screenshot of the title of the article published by The Post from which the title of the viral post was partially taken (Source: The Washington Post)

The Post has published several stories and opinion pieces on the alleged plot, but the viral article is not among them.

We contacted The Washington Post for comment. A spokesperson stated: “The screenshot featured in the tweet you shared is fake.”

The verdict

The screenshot, falsely attributed to The Washington Post, is fabricated. It incorrectly claims that U.S. intelligence agencies concluded Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun may have staged an attack on himself to implicate India.