A deepfake video is being shared on X with the claim that Punjab Police officials announced that Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s nephew is involved in an alleged rape at Lovely Professional University (LPU) and that special teams had been sent to Delhi to arrest him.
BOOM found that the original video shows Kapurthala Superintendent of Police (SP) Major Singh Dhadda saying that police had received no concrete information or complaint regarding the alleged incident. An AI-detection tool also flagged the voice in the viral video as highly likely to be synthetic.
LPU suspended classes for 10 days starting September 28 after protests over an alleged rape turned violent on September 27. Punjab Police has registered an FIR against an unidentified person in the case.
The Claim
The video was shared on X by @itslakshmikumar with the caption: “Breaking 🔥 Punjab Police Officials confirm that nephew of Amit Shah was involved in LPU (Lovely Professional University) incident which happened in GH3 Hostel in room 116. Officials say that they have sent special teams to Delhi to arrest him.”
The X handle has previously shared deepfake videos targeting Indian defence officials.
Click here to view an archive.
What We Found:
1) AI-detection tool flags audio as likely synthetic
We analysed the audio in the viral video using the Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector. The tool returned an authenticity score of 27 out of 100, flagging the voice as highly likely to be a deepfake.
BOOM found that in the original video, the Kapurthala Police official Major Singh Dhadda denies claims that a rape had occurred at LPU. He states that police had not received any complaint regarding such an incident and that they were prepared to investigate if information about where the alleged incident occurred.
The original video contains no reference to Amit Shah, his nephew, or police teams being sent to Delhi to make an arrest.
3) Kapurthala Police confirm video was manipulated using AI
Kapurthala Police also clarified on its official handle stating that the video has been manipulated using AI.