A digitally altered video is being shared on social media falsely claiming that Colonel Sofiya Qureshi criticised the Indian Army’s “Trishul” exercises and called them a political gimmick to influence the Bihar elections.
BOOM found that the video contains an overlaid voice track to make the false claim. In her address at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue organised by the Indian Army on October 31, 2025, Colonel Qureshi made no such remarks.
Exercise Trishul is India’s largest military drill post Operation Sindoor, and will commerce in early November along Gujarat’s coast and Rajasthan’s western borders to practise multi-domain operations with over 50,000 troops, INS Vikrant, INS Jalashwa, submarines, and IAF jets. Bihar is scheduled to go to the polls in two phases on November 6 and November 11, with the counting of votes scheduled for November 14.
The Claim: Video shows Colonel Sofia Qureshi saying Trishul exercises are a political gimmick for Bihar election
The 42 seconds video is being shared on X with the caption, "Breaking: Colonel Sofia Qureshi goes off on live TV “These Trishul exercises are nothing but a political gimmick to sway the Bihar elections. I’m done being used as a prop for Muslim support. I can’t stand the saffronization of the Indian Army.”"
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What We Found:
1) AI Deepfake Voice Detection Tool Results
We analysed the video through two deepfake voice detection tools, Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector and DeepFake-O-Meter by the University at Buffalo’s Media Forensics Lab. Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector gave the voice an authenticity score of 1/100, flagging it as highly likely to be a deepfake.
Three results by DeepFake-O-Meter gave it a fake probability of more that 99%.
2) No Such Statement against Trishul exercises
We also checked Colonel Qureshi's address at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue organised by the Indian Army on October 31, 2025, and found that she makes no such remarks heard in the viral video. The complete address can be seen below: