Lighthouse Journalism found a 32-second video being widely shared on social media websites. In the video, General Officer Commanding (GOC) Spear Corps (3 Corps) Lieutenant General Girish Kalia (AVSM, VSM) was heard saying, “It is indeed shameful that aggressor China has taken control of Asaphila, Longjou and Taksing Circle of Arunachal Pradesh. We have been requesting the central government for supplies but we are being told that paramilitary forces should rather be deployed against Gen Z of Arunachal Pradesh instead of using them against China.”
In the video he further said that over 25 of his soldiers had been arrested, and he doesn’t know their whereabouts.
During the investigation we found that the video was a deepfake and that the claim was fake.
Claim:
X user kapil sharma shared the viral video on their profile.
Other users are also sharing the same video with similar claims.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by checking news reports to see if Lt Gen Girish Kalia had made any such statement; we could not find any such news report.
We then ran a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video. This led us to a video posted on the X profile of ANI. The video was posted on October 27, 2023.
In the video Girish Kalia did not say anything about the situation in Arunachal Pradesh. In the video, GoC 28 Infantry Division Major General Girish Kalia says, “There has been a constant endeavour from across the Line of Control to disturb the peace and vitiate the security environment in Jammu and Kashmir.”
The Indian Army also posted the facts on their fact check page on X.
We ran the video through an AI detection tool, detectvideo.ai; the tool returned results indicating the video is likely manipulated.
Conclusion: The viral video claiming that Lt Gen Girish Kalia admitted China had taken control of parts of Arunachal Pradesh is a deepfake. The original footage, posted by ANI on October 27, 2023, shows him speaking about security challenges along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, with no mention of Arunachal Pradesh. The Indian Army has also flagged the video as fake, while an AI-detection tool indicated that it was likely manipulated. The viral video and claim is fake.
