Fact Check: Leh ADC admits Amit Shah ordered Sonam Wangchuk's arrest, appeals attack on BJP offices? No, video is AI-manipulated

Since the arrest of activist Sonam Wangchuk over charges of allegedly instigating violent protests in Ladakh, several misinformation on the subject have been circulating on social media.

In this context, a video featuring Ghulam Mohd, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Leh, alongside Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Regzin Sangdup, has been circulating on social media. The video claims that the ADC admitted to arresting Sonam Wangchuk on orders from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing Wangchuk of being a Pakistani agent. It also purportedly shows ADC Ghulam appealing to people to attack BJP offices.

In the video, the ADC allegedly states, “As everyone knows, regarding the unfortunate accident that happened here in Leh yesterday, a total of 90 injured persons were admitted to the District Hospital, in which four people died. Along with that, seven were critically injured, and among them, 20 people suffered major trauma. I request the people of Ladakh that an order was issued to us by the Home Ministry to arrest Sonam Wangchuk. We ourselves received an order from Amit Shah ji's office that you have to accuse Sonam Wangchuk of being a Pakistani agent. I request the people of Leh that please not attack our police officers. If you want to do something, then go to the offices of the BJP workers and talk to them. We have no role in this arrest; we are merely servants.”

An X user shared the video with the caption, “This is a very serious matter coming from the Commissioner. The BJP has caused more damage than India’s enemies. ADC Leh Ghulam Muhammad admits that it was Amit Shah who ordered the arrest of Sonam Wangchuk. He appealed to the public to attack the BJP offices instead of going after the police.” (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim to be false, as the video has been manipulated.

We conducted a keyword search and found the original video of the press briefing, approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds long, published by the YouTube channels Kargil Today and Ladakh Today. The briefing featured ADC Ghulam Mohd and ASP Regzin Sangdup and was published on September 25.

In this version, the ADC can be heard stating: “As everyone knows, regarding the unfortunate incident that occurred here in Leh yesterday, a total of 90 injured persons were admitted to the District Hospital. Out of these, four died, and seven were critically injured. There were 20 people with major trauma and 60 with minor trauma. Among those injured on September 24, 61 sustained minor injuries, of which 50 were discharged from the hospital the same day.”

Further ADC adds, “One individual who was transferred from Leh to Delhi today, on September 25, has reached there and been admitted. We spoke to their relatives this evening, and they are completely safe with no complications. Currently, 18 patients remain admitted to the District Hospital, while 11 have been discharged today. Regarding those who unfortunately died, their postmortems have been conducted, and today, the District Administration, along with the Police Administration, has handed over the bodies to their families.”

In the end, he concludes, “The District Administration requests that people maintain peace. Section 163 has been imposed since this morning. All those who belong to religious institutions, political institutions, other associations, or common citizens living in villages and homes should stay in their homes and respective areas. There is a need to maintain peace. The District Administration once again urges everyone to maintain peace in their respective localities, villages, and especially in the city.”

It is evident from the above excerpt that the viral clip has been manipulated. ADC Ghulam did not claim to have arrested Sonam Wangchuk on orders from Amit Shah, nor does the video show him appealing to people to talk to BJP workers or attack BJP offices.

Discrepancies in the video

We compared the viral clip with the original press briefing and found that while the voice of ADC Ghulam sounds seemingly identical, the tonality, pauses, and pacing differ noticeably.

Notably, in the first 20 seconds of the viral clip, the content up to the point where the ADC mentions “20 people suffered major trauma” also appears in the original video. However, in the original, he takes 28 seconds to say the same thing. We also compared the frames at the 20-second mark in the viral clip and the 28-second mark in the original video and found they do not match. In the original, the ADC looks at papers kept on the table while speaking, whereas in the viral clip, he is not seen looking at any papers. Additionally, the hand gestures are not identical between the two videos.

Tool result

We extracted the audio from the video and analysed it using the AI-detection tool Deepfake-O-Meter. Four of its detectors flagged the audio as likely AI-generated, yielding confidence scores of 88.1 per cent, 100 per cent, 95.3 per cent, and 100 per cent, respectively.

Therefore, based on our identification of the source video and confirmation that AI-generated audio has been added to it, we conclude that the viral video has been manipulated using AI.