An X user shared four viral videos recently that fabricated announcements by India’s Army Chief and prominent news outlets, falsely claiming that Ladakh climate activist Sonam Wangchuk had died in police custody.
BOOM found that all four clips are deepfakes, with no credible reports or official statements indicating that Wangchuk has passed away. Furthermore, Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali J Angmo told BOOM that she personally met him on November 28, 2025, after the videos went viral, and confirmed that he is safe.
The four videos also fit a growing pattern of AI-generated misinformation impersonating Indian defence officials and journalists. BOOM has previously debunked several such deepfakes circulating after recent political and security developments.
The Claim
The X user (@Mushk_0) posted four videos claiming:
1. Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi had announced Wangchuk’s death and offered condolences to his family.
(Archived here)
2. Three additional clips showed Firstpost’s Palki Sharma, NDTV’s Shiv Aroor, and an India Today presenter reporting that Wangchuk had died in police custody.
(Archived here, here and here)
The posts alleged that media outlets and the Army Chief had confirmed his death, and that authorities were suppressing the information.
What We Found
BOOM found that the four viral videos are digitally manipulated deepfakes created using AI-generated audio and altered visuals. There are no verified reports, media statements, or official communications confirming Wangchuk’s death.
- Unnatural facial and vocal patterns: Across all clips, BOOM observed unnatural and repetitive speech patterns, and robotic vocal delivery, all of which signify synthetic manipulation.
- Aroor clip shows incorrect studio background: The deepfake featuring NDTV’s Shiv Aroor displays the Aaj Tak studio, his former workplace, despite carrying NDTV branding. Aroor flagged this inconsistency on X, calling the video fake.
- Original footage of Gen. Dwivedi contains no such statement: BOOM traced the viral Army Chief clip to a real speech delivered by General Upendra Dwivedi at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue, published by WION News on November 27, 2025. His attire and background match the viral video, but he does not mention Wangchuk or make any reference to a custodial death.
- DAU forensic analysis confirms AI-manipulation: BOOM consulted with its partners at the Deepfakes Analysis Unit for detailed audio-visual examination. DAU examined all four clips using detection tools such as Hiya, Aurigin AI, ElevenLabs AI Speech Classifier and Hive AI. Hiya and Aurigin detected significant evidence of AI-generated audio across all four videos, indicating that the speech segments had been synthetically produced. The video showing Shiv Aroor was found to have partially AI-generated audio according to both Hiya and Aurigin. Both these tools found significant portions of the other three audio to be likely air generated.
- BOOM also reached out to Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali J Angmo who told us that he is doing fine. She added that she had personally met him and confirmed his safety on November 28, 2025, after the videos went viral.
