Rahul Gandhi Vote Chori Claims: Man Who Shot Brazilian Model’s Photo Faces Online Harassment

A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shared a picture of a woman, reportedly a Brazilian model, alleging large-scale voter fraud in Haryana, the controversy has now spread thousands of kilometres beyond India.

The woman whose photo was allegedly used on multiple voter IDs in Haryana has responded, revealing that the image is hers — taken several years ago. She clarified that she has never been to India and has no connection to Indian politics. The woman has been identified as Larissa Nery, a former model, who said that Indian journalists had been contacting her for interviews following the Rahul Gandhi’s allegations.

Meanwhile, the photographer who captured Larissa’s image has deleted his Instagram account amid a surge of online attention and harassment.

Matheus Ferrero, a photographer from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, had taken the picture in 2017 and shared it online with her consent.

The image, titled “Woman Wearing Blue Denim Jacket,” was later uploaded to free stock photography websites such as Unsplash and Pexels, making it publicly accessible. Since then, it has been downloaded over four lakh times and featured on numerous websites and publications worldwide.

Speaking to Brazilian news outlet Aos Fatos, Ferrero said he deleted his Instagram account after the controversy erupted.

“They literally hacked all my accounts. There were a lot of strange people saying all sorts of things,” Ferrero told the outlet, adding that “many people did not understand it was a free-use photo from a stock platform.”

Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the Brazilian model’s photo appeared 22 times across 10 polling booths in Haryana, under various names including Seema, Sweety, and Rashmi.