Several visuals, which are unrelated and artificially manipulated, are being falsely linked to the recent skirmish between Indian and Chinese troops at multiple locations along the border in Arunachal Pradesh.
Claims:
The first video appears to show old footage of Lt General Manoj Kumar stating that Arunachal Pradesh is becoming the 'next flashpoint' between India and China.
Another deepfake of Indian Army officer Girish Kalia was previously viral on social media with the claim that he admitted China had taken control of parts of Arunachal Pradesh. Several BJP leaders called out the Congress for amplifying the deepfake as a real video.
The second and third video show several soldiers being injured and assaulted, claiming that it is from Arunachal Pradesh showing Chinese and Indian soldiers injured during the clashes.
The fourth video shows trucks with red flags travelling along a road which is being shared that the vehicles are entering India from China.
Archive available here, here, here and here.
What we found
Video 1:
We found the original video posted by the news agency ANI on March 30, 2026. It shows Lieutenant General Manoj Kumar delivering a retirement speech in Panchkula, Haryana. He does not make the remarks regarding China or Arunachal Pradesh. An AI voice-detection tool also flagged the viral audio as a likely deepfake.
Video 2:
We ran a reverse image search and found an Instagram post with the same video dated July 28, 2026, from the handle @tactical_federation. The caption mentions that the Tactical Training Federation conducted training for Special Operations Forces personnel of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Video 3:
A reverse image search for the first visual showing a soldier being beaten up dates back to an X post from November 12, 2024 from the handle @VivekSi85847001.
The second clip showing a clash between troops with clubs and sticks dates back to September 28, 2021 near the Line Of Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh. BOOM had previously geo-located the video to an area near the Chumi Gyatse falls in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh in December 2022.
Video 4:
We ran a reverse image search and found the video of trucks with red flags was posted on September 9 by the handle @medhibablu00, and the caption stating that it is from Nathula Pass in Sikkim. We were also able to geo-locate the video.
BOOM has reached out to ITBP for a comment, this article will be updated upon receiving a response.
On October 24, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) chief Shatrujeet Kapur confirmed that Indian and Chinese troops had been involved in ongoing face-offs at multiple locations in Arunachal Pradesh. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), responding to reports of the confrontations, said such tensions typically arise when Chinese troops deviate from established patrolling patterns along the border.