Deepfakes Targeting Indian Army Personnel Shared Amid Kulgam Attack
BOOM found visual inconsistencies in the videos that indicate they were made using AI.
Deepfakes of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and others have surfaced with false claims that they made negative remarks about the Indian Army.
BOOM found that the videos have been digitally altered and their voices cloned to make such statements.
On November 11, three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers suffered bullet injuries in an insurgent attack near the Kulgam checkpoint in Jammu and Kashmir. The videos are viral in that backdrop.
Claim 1: Video shows Sushant Singh calling Balakot and Pulwama ‘False Flag Operations’
The video appears to show Caravan magazine consulting editor Sushant Singh calling Balakot and Pulwama 'false-flag operations' in an interview.
What We Found:
1) Original video of Sushant Singh commenting on Balakot airstrikes: A reverse image search led us to the original video posted by The Wire's YouTube channel, on March 10, 2025. In the 40-minute interview with journalist Ashutosh Bhardwaj, Singh discusses whether the Balakot airstrikes were a military failure and a political success for the Bharatiya Janata Party. He does not make any of the remarks attributed to him in the viral video. Singh also posted on X calling the video fake and AI-generated. Additionally, we ran the video through Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector, which flagged it as AI-generated.
Claim 2: Video shows Praful Bakshi calling Kulgam attack a ‘False Flag Operation’
The video shows Praful Bakshi calling the Kulgam attack a way to divert public attention from the political pressure on the Narendra Modi-led government.
What We Found:
1) Original video of Bakshi commenting on Kulgam attack: We ran a reverse image search and found the original video posted by ANI on November 11. In the original video, Bakshi says the Indian armed forces 'have to be on the offensive' and that this issue needs to be scrutinised further. He does not make any of the remarks from the viral video. Further, we also ran the video through Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector, which flagged it as AI-generated.
Claim 3: Video shows Rajnath Singh saying the Indian Army has low morale
Defence minister Rajnath Singh appears to talk about the low morale in the Indian Army and says that their good days will return in this viral video.
Archive available here.
What we found:
1) Original video of Rajnath Singh addressing the Indian Army at Sherathang War Memorial: A reverse image search led us to the original video posted by ANI on November 8, where Singh is extending Diwali wishes to army personnel and thanking them for their sacrifice. He does not make any comments about low morale in the original video. Further, we ran the video through Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector, which flagged it as AI-generated.
