Image of Indian Embassy Counsellor at JAAC Protest in London Is AI-Generated

We found that the image was made or edited with OpenAI.

An AI-generated image is going viral on social media, with false claims that it shows the Indian Embassy Counsellor at the JAAC protest outside Pakistan's High Commission in London, United Kingdom.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

An image is going viral on social media, claiming to show the Indian Embassy Counsellor at the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) protest outside Pakistan's High Commission in London, United Kingdom.

What is the claim?: The post identifies the man in the image as Rakesh Dahiya, Secretary of the Indian Embassy. According to the caption, the Indian Embassy Counsellor, Deepak Raghu, was at the JAAC protest outside Pakistan's High Commission in London.

An archived version of this claim can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archived versions of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the claim is false, as the image is AI-generated.

How did we find out?: We ran a reverse image search on the image and a keyword search and couldn't find any credible sources or reports sharing it.

• We ran a reverse image search on the image claiming to show Rakesh Dahiya, Secretary of the Indian Embassy.

• It led us to the X account of a man named Rakesh Dahiya, who works as the Director of Education in NDMC, Delhi (according to his X bio).

The image shows Rakesh Dahiya, who is the Director of Education in NDMC, Delhi

(Source: X/Screenshot)

• We searched the name and found out that the First Secretary of Trade at the High Commission of India, London, United Kingdom, is named Rakesh Dahiya.

The First Secretary of Trade at the High Commission of India, London, is Rakesh Dahiya.

(Source: High Commission of India, London/ Screenshot)

• We found images of Dahiya from multiple sources, such as the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, an X post and a Facebook post by Hockey India.

• However, he doesn't look similar to the man in the viral image.

The images don't match. 

(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

• We also searched for Deepak Raghu, who, according to the post, is the Indian Embassy Counsellor and was at the protest.

• We found that Raghu is a Counsellor at the High Commission of India, London, United Kingdom.

Deepak Raghu is a Counsellor at the High Commission of India, London.

(Source: High Commission of India, London/ Screenshot)

• We compared his image with the man in the viral image, and they did not match either.

The image didn't match. 

(Source: Comptroller and Auditor General of India/ Screenshot)

Is it AI?: We ran the image through Sightengine, an AI detector, which indicated it is very likely AI-generated.

Here's the result of AI detection by Sightengine. 

(Source: Sightengine/ Screenshot)

• Following this, we ran the image through SynthID Detector, which concluded the content was generated or edited using OpenAI tools because it detected a SynthID watermark.

The image was made or edited with OpenAI. 

(Source: SynthID Detector/ Screenshot)

MEA's Clarification: The Ministry of External Affairs's fact-checking wing also issued a clarification stating that the claims are fake.

Conclusion: The image is AI-generated and doesn't show the Indian Embassy Counsellor at the JAAC protest

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