Video of General Dhiraj Seth Talking About Operation…

In July 2026, a digitally manipulated video surfaced online falsely portraying the newly appointed Chief of the Army Staff, General Dhiraj Seth, making inflammatory remarks about a fictional military operation. The video claimed that the General was criticizing a previous military regime for hiding the bodies of soldiers lost during 'Operation Sindoor' and accused them of keeping government leadership in the dark.

What happened

The incident involved the circulation of a high-quality deepfake intended to spread misinformation regarding the Indian military leadership. In the fabricated clip, the AI-generated General Seth purportedly expressed 'immense pride' for the armed forces while condemning the alleged disrespect shown toward martyrs. The content was designed to appear as an official statement from the newly appointed COAS.

Investigations by fact-checking organizations and official government channels quickly debunked the footage. A reverse image search revealed no credible reports supporting the claims made in the video. Furthermore, technical analysis using Hive Moderation flagged the video as over 97 percent likely to be AI-generated, while the Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector confirmed the audio was synthesized.

The authentic footage, originally uploaded by the news agency ANI, shows General Seth taking charge as the new Chief of Army Staff. In the genuine video, he discusses the guiding principle 'VIJAY' articulated by the Prime Minister. The fabricated video completely replaced the original message with the false claims about Operation Sindoor. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) issued a formal clarification, labeling the video a deepfake and warning the public that it was part of a propaganda campaign. No such statement regarding Operation Sindoor or the alleged mistreatment of soldiers was ever made by General Seth.