‘Revathi from Karnataka’ is not IAS topper; recurring misinformation viral again

Two photographs are viral on social media with the claim that a woman named Revathi who hails from a poor family of daily wage earners in Karnataka was placed third in UPSC examination. The message adds that she was selected for IAS. State Joint Secretary of BJP Bengal Amitava Chakravorty was among those who tweeted the images on June 27, 2020.

Arlan Malik, District Vice-President of BJP J&K, also shared both pictures.

From the account of Facebook user Dewesh Kumar Choubey the images drew a whopping 28,000 shares. They garnered another 1,000 shares from the group ஆதி அகத்தியர் Aathi Agathiar.

The claim is also floating on Instagram.

Circulating since 2017

The same set of images has been doing the rounds on social media since 2017. From the Facebook page Indian Administrative service – IAS, the post attracted over 94,000 shares.

It was shared by several users in 2017.

BJP MP Sonal Mansingh had tweeted the image on July 7, 2017.

Fact-check

Alt News went through the complete list of candidates of the 2016 UPSC examination (results declared in 2017) and found no candidate by the name Revathi who placed third. In fact, the candidate with the third rank was Gopalkrishna Ronanki.

A Google reverse image search of the photographs led us to a Telugu website journalismpower.com which had penned an article on Revathi on March 26, 2017. As per the article, Venkata Revathi hailed from a poor family in Avanigadda in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district. After completing her college, she appeared for AP police examination and was selected for the post of a sub-inspector (SI). The article carries another photograph of Revathi.

Alt News contacted Avanigadda police station and was redirected to SI Revathi who informed that she is not an IAS officer. Her full name is Mathi Venkata Revathi (28) and she hails from Modumudi village. She is currently posted at Disha police station in Rajahmundry City, East Godavari district. The sub-inspector also shared her recent photograph with Alt News.

A false claim that Revathi from Karnataka placed third in UPSC examination is, therefore, circulating since 2017. The truth of the matter is that she was selected as a sub-inspector in AP police examination in 2017.