Fact: Did Will Smith meditate in front of Taj Mahal during a recent visit

New Delhi, May 02: An image of actor Will Smith meditating in front of the Taj Mahal has gone viral. Smith was in the news recently for winning the Oscar and more importantly for punching Chris Rock on stage.

Smith who later apologised for his act has been banned from the academy for 10 years. Now an image of his meditating in front of the Taj Mahal has gone viral. Why is Will Smith praying outside Taj Mahal?

Does he think it's a place of worship, a tweet said.

The claims however misleading and this is not a recent photograph. This was uploaded on Smith's social media handle in 2018. A reverse image search took use to a report on the visit by Smith to Agra in 2018.

An Indian Express report published on October 11 2018 said that Smith was in India to attend an event and shoot a dance number for the Hindi movie, Student of the Year 2. He had visited the Taj Mahal on October 10 2018, the report also said.

Will Smith himself posted the image on Instagram with the caption, a lot of people don't know this.... but the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built for a single person. Emperor Shah Jahan, so distraught over the death of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, preserved her body for 22 years while he built the Taj Mahal as her final resting place.

Hence it can be concluded that the image being shared on the social media is not a recent one. It is an image from 2018 being shared with the claim it is a recent one.