Tech giant apologises to Indian PM after putting him in "10 Top Criminals" search

According to reports, Google on Wednesday apologized to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his image began appearing in image search results for the query “top 10 criminals in India.” The list also included 1993 Mumbai bombings mastermind Dawood Ibrahim, American gangster Al Capone, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Google issued a statement of apology for “any misunderstanding or confusion”, after many political leaders and commentators began expressing concern.

The search giant said: “These results trouble us and are not reflective of the opinions of Google. Sometimes, the way images are described on the internet can yield surprising results to specific queries.”

Sources say Google explained that the search query results were due to a British daily publishing an image of Modi with erroneous metadata.