Manipulated Clip of CDS Viral as India Admitting 7 Jet Losses Against Pakistan

Contrails AI debunked the claim and reported that the video had been manipulated.

Fact-Check: In the original clip, Chauhan did not mention anything about losses or ceasefire.

(Source: The Quint) 

A video of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan has gone viral on social media, where he allegedly admits that India lost seven jets during Operation Sindoor and asked Pakistan for a ceasefire.

What does he say?: In a 2:28-minute viral video, CDS Chauhan appears to be saying, "It's important to acknowledge here that although we lost seven Indian jets, we went airborne again after just three days, and that alone shows our resilience"

• He also says, "Yes, we did ask for a ceasefire, not out of weakness but because we did not want South Asia to suffer the horrors of an all-out war."

• He also mentioned that modern officers must be well-read “scholar warriors” who can think critically across domains to ensure national security.

• Additionally, he added that India upheld Hindu ideology as one of peace by its ceasefire request to avoid regional devastation. He also highlighted that national security relies on combining scholarly and warrior traits across many capable leaders, not just a single genius.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false as this video is manipulated.

• In the original clip, CDS Chauhan addressed a seminar in Delhi where he spoke about modern warfare however, did not mention anything about India's losses or ceasefire amid Operation Sindoor.

• Contrails AI also debunked the video and reported that it was manipulated.

What we found: At first, we ran a relevant keyword search but did not find any reliable reports containing the alleged admission by General Chauhan.

• We, then, divided the video into multiple screenshots and performed a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• It directed us to a YouTube upload by PTI News from 25 July, featuring the CDS against the background visible in the viral footage.

• The video's description noted, "Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan said Operation Sindoor is still ongoing and stressed that India’s military preparedness must remain at the highest level year-round." (sic.)

• It further added, "Speaking at a seminar in Delhi, he underlined the need for future soldiers to be info, tech, and scholar warriors. The CDS also emphasised that there are no runners-up in war, and constant vigilance is crucial to national security." (sic.)

• We went through the full video and traced certain points of the viral clip around 11 minutes of the PTI video.

• Here, CDS Chauhan said:

"So that's, again, coming back to the same point that an officer today needs to be much more well read, so that he can contribute to this particular aspect of securing a nation. As I said earlier, that there are no runners up in war, and this will be giving examples of Operation Sindoor, which still continues. Our preparedness level has to be very high. It's 24-7, 365 days. We are living in that kind of an environment, and it's only scholar warriors that can ensure this readiness by thinking differently, selecting the dots across this complete kind of a spectrum. I've actually given you a number of examples."

• We did NOT find any mention of India's jet losses or ceasefire in the entire clip.

Differences between viral and original videos: At first, we noticed some visible differences in the two clips. We looked up the the general's speech on ANI's YouTube channel and matched a few frames.

• In the viral clip, the logo of ANI, along with the military badges looks extremely distorted. Whereas, in the original footage, everything appears seamless.

Here are the differences between the two clips. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

• The viral video begins with CDS Chauhan saying, "They do run us up in war."

• However, in the longer footage, the general does not say this line but at 11:11 minutes of the PTI video, the general says, "As I said earlier, that there are no runners up in war."

• All these discrepancies indicated that the video could be digitally manipulated to add certain lines to make the viral claim.

We checked the video using Contrails AI, a Bengaluru-based Artificial Intelligence startup working on detecting AI-generated content.

• It revealed that the video was manipulated. The report noted that the video showed signs of AI manipulation, with unnatural lip sync and possible advanced voice cloning.

• It also revealed that while some frames were low-resolution, AI-detectors flagged both high and low confidence manipulation, suggesting a mix of synthetic and studio-edited elements.

Press Information Bureau debunks claim: PIB's fact-check unit debunked the viral claim and noted that CDS Chauhan's manipulated video was viral on social media.

• It further said that the video was AI-generated and Chauhan made no such statements, as claimed.

• It is to be noted that CDS Chauhan did acknowledge that India lost some jets during early strikes on nine terror hubs in Pakistan, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and the consequent retaliation on 7 May, reported the Times of India on 1 June.

• The general, however, did not confirm the number of jets that were lost.

• He further added that India, later, changed tactics to inflict major damage and also dismissed Pakistan’s claim of downing six aircrafts and Rafales as "incorrect."

Conclusion: A digitally manipulated video of CDS Chauhan has gone viral to falsely claim that it shows him admitting to India's losses of jets and asking for ceasefire amid Operation Sindoor.

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