Indian fan embroiled in the Taskin-Dhoni photo-shopped image controversy

The Taskin-Dhoni photo-shopped image controversy unearthed the scary face of fandom in today’s social media world. A photo was circulated of Bangladeshi fast bowler Taskin Ahmed holding a photo-shopped head of Dhoni and the background was the battle scene from movie ‘300’.

This photo enraged not only the Indian fans, but also the fans from other nations as it represented a limit that was crossed time and again by Bangladeshi fans. A previous example was that of Mustafizur holding a ball and half shaved heads of Indian batsmen Dhawan, Rohit, Kohli and Dhoni, after Bangladesh defeated India on the One Day series last year 2-1.

But this new revelation has put a whole new perspective on the matter, as Bangladeshi newspaper and media have accused Sumit Kumar, an Indian national and fan of Indian cricket team and captain MS Dhoni, of having been the actual perpetrator of the photo-shopped image. Their newspaper, media and channels have all accused him of doing so. ‘India’s Sumit is original creator of Taskin-Dhoni image’, read Notun Shomoe’s headline on Monday.

Speaking with a leading sports website, Sumit Kumar said “I’ve been having sleepless nights for the last 3-4 days because of these accusations. I’ve been in so much tension. I consider MS Dhoni to be my God. I can die but I will never insult my God.”

The basis of Bangladeshi accusation seems very thin though. The photo that went viral was just a part of the original image. The full image shows Taskin holding the head in one hand and a sword in one hand, with the ‘300’ movie scene in the background. The accusations arise from the issue that the said image is saved in the name of Sumit Kumar in Google images.

This is the said image with the time stamp saying that it was made in 2015 by a Facebook group EWZONE.
The group EWZONE was deactivated in the last few days and the admins of the group are not known. Sumit says, “I was horrified when I first saw the image, but did not pay much attention to it because who cares for such people! Then I ran an article on my website when Ravi Shastri was asked a question about it, thinking that it had reached the players. It was then that I took the image from the internet. I had no idea Google would save my name alongside that image, and cause me such tension.”

Sumit is now approaching the cyber crime cell in order to get their help and clear his name.