A video purporting to show Deputy Commissioner of Police North Delhi Raja Banthia ruling out a terror angle in the Delhi blast near the Red Fort, is altered and fake.
In the original footage, Banthia made no such comments and can be heard talking about the ongoing investigation related to the case.
In the 18 second viral footage, DCP North Delhi is heard ruling out a terror angle in the Red Fort blast and saying that no bomb fragments or crater were found at the site. Banthia is also heard mentioning that the blast could have been caused by a CNG cylinder or an electrical fire, and adding that the final report on the incident is still awaited.
The Claim
Several social media users shared the video with the caption, "NCR police have ruled out terrorism in the Delhi blast — yet Modi’s propaganda machine and Godi media keep spinning false “terror” narratives."
Click here and here to see archives of such posts.
What We Found: Viral Video Is Altered
1. AI Detector Tool Suspects Manipulation: We first ran a keyword search related to the alleged statement by DCP North Delhi Raja Banthia but did not find any credible news report to support it.
We then tested the video using the AI detector tool Deepware, which examined the clip and flagged it could be manipulated.
2. The Original Video: We then broke the video into keyframes and ran a search on them using Google Lens to trace the source. We found that the video had been uploaded by the official X handle of wire agency Press Trust of India (PTI) on November 11, 2025, with its logo, which matches the viral footage.
We listened to the byte given by DCP North Delhi and noticed clear differences in his voice when comparing the original footage with the viral clip. In the video report, we also could not find any comment by Banthia where he rules out the terror angle in the recent Red Fort blast. Instead, he can be heard speaking about the ongoing investigation by officials related to the case.
On Wednesday, the government deemed the November 10, 2025, explosion near Delhi's Red Fort, which has claimed 12 lives and injured several others, as a 'terror incident'.
