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Fake video of Modi aide triggers police probes, arrests

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Congress social media coordinator arrested by Delhi police

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Rival Congress party calls arrest abuse of power

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Modi says fake voices being used "to create tension in

society"

By Munsif Vengattil, Saurabh Sharma and Rishika Sadam

BENGALURU/LUCKNOW, May 5 (Reuters) - Manipulated videos

are taking centre stage as campaigning heats up in India's

election, with fake clips involving two top aides of Prime

Minister Narendra Modi triggering police investigations and the

arrest of some workers of his rival Congress party.

In what has been dubbed as India's first AI election, Modi

said last week fake voices were being used to purportedly show

leaders making "statements that we have never even thought of",

calling it a conspiracy "to create tension in society."

Indian police -- already investigating the spread of fake

videos showing Bollywood actors criticizing Modi -- are now

investigating a doctored online clip that showed federal home

minister Amit Shah saying the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will

stop certain social guarantees for minorities, a subject

sensitive for millions of voters.

Shah retorted on X, posting his "original" and the edited

"fake" speech and alleging -- without providing any evidence --

that the main opposition Congress was behind the video it

created to mislead the public. The minister said "directions

have been issued to the police to address this issue."

Indian police arrested at least nine people, including six

members of Congress' social media teams, in the states of Assam,

Gujarat, Telangana and New Delhi last week for circulating the

fake video, according to police statements.

Five of the Congress workers were released on bail, but the

most high-profile arrest made by the cyber crime unit of New

Delhi police came on Friday, when they detained a Congress

national social media coordinator, Arun Reddy, for sharing the

video. New Delhi is one region where Shah's ministry directly

controls police. Reddy has been sent into three-day custody.

The arrest has sparked protests from Congress workers with

many posting on X using the #ReleaseArunReddy tag. Congress

lawmaker Manickam Tagore said the arrest was an example of

"authoritarian misuse of power by the regime."

Congress' head of social media, Supriya Shrinate, did not

respond to messages and an email seeking comment.

MISINFORMATION

India's

election

from April 19 to June 1 will be the world's largest

democratic event.

With nearly a billion voters and more than 800 million

internet users, tackling the spread of misinformation is a high

stakes job. It involves round-the-clock monitoring by police and

election officials who often issue take down orders to Facebook

and X as investigations start.

In India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, more than

500 people keep tabs on online content, flagging controversial

posts and coordinating with social media companies for their

removal when needed, police chief Prashant Kumar told Reuters on

Saturday.

Another fake video that sparked a storm last week showed

Yogi Adityanath, the state's chief minister, criticizing Modi

for not doing enough for families of those who died in a 2019

militant attack. Though fact checkers said the video was created

using different parts of an original clip, state police called

it an "AI generated, deepfake".

Using internet address tracking, state police arrested a man

named Shyam Gupta on May 2 who had shared the fake video post on

X a day earlier, receiving over 3,000 views and 11 likes.

The police have accused Gupta of forgery and promoting

enmity under Indian law provisions that can carry a jail term of

up to seven years if convicted. Reuters could not reach him as

he is currently serving a 14-day custody period.

"This person is not a tech guy. Had he been tech savvy,

arresting him quickly would not have been possible," said police

officer Kumar.