Viral posts allege that Raju Patel, a 52-year-old laborer from Pench, India, patted a real tiger he mistook for a large cat after a night of drinking on October 4, 2025. The image shows Patel bending toward a tiger on a street, reportedly captured on “CCTV.”
The Viral Claim
A bizarre story swept across social media earlier this month, claiming that Raju Patel, a 52-year-old laborer from Pench, India, drunkenly patted a real tiger after mistaking it for a large cat. The accompanying image supposedly a CCTV still shows a man bending over to touch the animal’s head in a dimly lit street. The tale was shared thousands of times across Reddit, Facebook, and WhatsApp, often with sensational captions like “Man pats tiger after card game in Pench!” or “Drunk hero meets tiger, lives to tell the tale.”
CyberPoe’s Verification
CyberPoe’s verification team conducted an in-depth forensic analysis of the viral photo and its claimed context. No credible Indian media outlet, including Times of India, NDTV, Hindustan Times, or Indian Express, has reported any such verified incident in Pench or surrounding regions on or around October 4, 2025. Similarly, no official statement or report from the Pench Tiger Reserve or the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department corroborates any tiger-related human encounter on that date.
A detailed reverse image search revealed that the photo did not originate from any news agency or surveillance source. Instead, it first appeared on meme forums and Telegram channels known for AI-generated or digitally altered wildlife content. The so-called “CCTV” still bears multiple signs of digital manipulation: unnatural lighting, static positioning of the tiger, lack of motion blur, and identical pixel compression across supposedly dynamic elements. Wildlife imaging experts consulted by CyberPoe confirmed that a sub-adult Bengal tiger would never remain calm during direct human contact especially in open, residential environments.
The AI Fabrication Pattern
This case fits a recurring pattern seen in 2024–2025, where fabricated wildlife encounters created using AI tools like Midjourney or Runway ML are circulated as real events. The goal is typically to generate viral engagement, blending humor with hyper-realistic visuals. These fakes exploit the public’s fascination with human-animal interactions, especially in regions like Madhya Pradesh where genuine human-tiger conflicts are known to occur. However, those real incidents involve attacks or rescue operations, not calm or friendly encounters as shown in this viral image.
Official Context and Absence of Evidence
The Pench Tiger Reserve maintains a transparent log of all tiger movements, human interactions, and tranquilization efforts, published through its official channels. Neither their verified X (formerly Twitter) account nor the daily bulletins of the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department show any mention of a tiger straying into a residential zone on or near October 4. Additionally, there is no traceable individual by the name of “Raju Patel” linked to any wildlife-related report or statement within the region.
Conclusion
After a comprehensive investigation involving reverse image tracing, metadata analysis, and expert review, CyberPoe concludes that the viral story of “Raju Patel patting a tiger” is fabricated and AI-generated. The image is likely a digital composition designed for social engagement, not documentation of a real incident. Such cases underscore the growing need for critical media literacy and responsible content sharing in the age of AI-generated imagery.
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