New Delhi:

Maharashtra’s cyber police have registered a case after popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee’s spoof account on X posted an alleged fake message about Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s daughter, a senior official said on Saturday.

According to the state cyber department, the account with the handle @dhruvrahtee had claimed on X that Birla’s daughter had cleared the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam without appearing for it.

The X bio of the account reads, “This is the fan and parody account and not affiliated with the original account of @dhruv_rathee. Not impersonating anyone. This account is Parody.”

Acting on a complaint by a relative of Birla, police booked the YouTuber under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections for defamation, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, and statement leading to mischief, as well as the IT Act, the official said.

When pointed out that the alleged fake message was posted by a parody account and not the one belonging to Mr Rathee, the official said, “We are investigating the matter.”

The parody account on Saturday posted another tweet saying, “As directed by @MahaCyber1, I have deleted all my posts and comments on Anjali Birla, I will like to apologize as I was unaware about the facts and copied someone else’ tweets and shared it.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A purported recording of an alleged telephonic conversation between AAP MP Swati Maliwal and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was shared on social media with a claim that both of them talked about the assault case she filed against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that the viral audio clip is AI-generated voice clones of Atishi and Rathee, and was shared on social media with a false claim.

On May 13, Swati Maliwal alleged that she was assaulted by Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar at the Chief Minister’s residence in Delhi.

Claim

A Facebook user shared on May 25 a video of a purported call recording between AAP leader Swati Maliwal and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, in which the former can be heard saying that she was assaulted at the behest of Delhi CM’s wife Sunita Kejriwal.

An English translation of the caption read, “Delhi Swati Maliwal and Dhruv Rathi’s video went viral Swati Maliwal asked Dhruv Rathi not to make videos as per your request. Beating happened at the behest of Kejriwal and Sunita Ghruv makes video on opposition’s agenda.”

Here is the link and archive link and below is a screenshot of the same:

Investigation

The Desk listened to the audio and noticed several discrepancies in it. Also, several words were repeatedly pronounced.

Starting the investigation, the Desk ran the video through InVid Tool Search and found several keyframes. On running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk found several posts carrying the same video with similar claims.

Two such posts can be found here and here, and their archived versions of the same can be found here and here, respectively.

The video was widely shared on YouTube as well. Three such posts can be viewed here, here and here, and their archived versions can be found here, here, and here, respectively.

The Desk noticed one of the comments on the posts, claiming that the post was fake and action should be taken against it.

Below is a screenshot of the same:

The Desk again listened to the audio closely, and found that discrepancies which suggested that it might be fake or digitally created.

At 00:07 and 00:09 seconds, jump-cuts and overlaying of voices of Rathee and Maliwal can be clearly noticed.

The Desk then ran the viral video through Itisaar, an AI detection tool developed in collaboration with IIT Jodhpur. The tool confirmed that the audio was AI generated and conclusively fake with a high confidence level.

Subsequently, the Desk concluded that a fake AI-generated audio clip was shared with the claim that it was the recording of telephonic conversation between Swati Maliwal and Dhruv Rathee.

CLAIM

A purported call recording between AAP MP Swati Maliwal and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, in which they discussed the alleged physical assault on the former.

FACT

The audio clip is fake, generated using AI.

CONCLUSION

Several social media users shared a purported call recording between AAP MP Swati Maliwal and YouTuber Dhruvv Rathee. In its investigation, the Desk found that an AI-generated audio clip was shared on social media with false claim.

(This story was originally published by PTI, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective)

New Delhi:

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal on Sunday said that she has been receiving rape and death threats after a “character assassination” campaign allegedly orchestrated by party leaders and volunteers.

She said that the situation escalated after the YouTuber Dhruv Rathee posted a one-sided video against her.

“After the leaders and volunteers of my party, i.e., AAP orchestrated a campaign of character assassination, victim shaming, and fanning of emotions against me, I have been getting rape and death threats. This got further exacerbated when YouTuber @Dhruv_Rathee posted a one-sided video against me,” Ms Maliwal wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.

Swati Maliwal accused the party leadership of trying to intimidate her into withdrawing her complaint. She also expressed disappointment with Dhruv Rathee, saying that despite her efforts to contact him and share her side of the story, he ignored her calls and messages.

“It is shameful that people like him, who claim to be independent journalists, could act like other AAP spokespersons and victim-shame me to the extent that I am now facing extreme abuses and threats,” she added.

After the leaders and volunteers of my party i.e. AAP orchestrated a campaign of charachter assassination, victim shaming and fanning of emotions against me, I have been getting rape and death threats.

This got further exacerbated when YouTuber @Dhruv_Rathee posted a one-sided… pic.twitter.com/EfCHHWW0xu

— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) May 26, 2024

Ms Maliwal listed several points that she felt were neglected in Dhruv Rathee’s 2.5-minute video:

She said Dhruv Rathee failed to mention: why the AAP took a U-turn after accepting that the incident happened; the ⁠MLC report that reveals injuries due to the assault; selected part of the video was released and then the phone of the accused was formatted; the accused was arrested from the crime scene (CM house). Why was he allowed to enter the place again? For tampering of evidence?; and how a woman who always stood for the right issues, even went to Manipur alone without security could be bought over by the BJP?

“The manner in which the entire party machinery and its supporters have attempted to vilify and shame me speaks volumes about their stand on women’s issues. I am reporting these rape and death threats to @DelhiPolice. I hope they take strong action against the perpetrators,” Maliwal said.

She concluded by noting, “In any case, if something happens to me, we know who instigated it.”

Bibhav Kumar was arrested on May 18 in connection with the assault on Maliwal at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on May 13.

Mr Kumar, a former PS to Kejriwal, on Saturday moved local court seeking bail. The court has issued notice to Delhi Police and sought its reply.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)