Fact Check: This Aaj Tak show about an attacked doctor on air is a DEEPFAKE

A video with the Aaj Tak logo purports to show a news segment in which a news anchor explains that a doctor was attacked by another panelist during a news debate. The video shows the attack and then shows the doctor in question talking about the attack and then claiming he had developed a new heart drug that would help prevent cardiovascular disease.

A Facebook user who shared the viral video wrote: “Shocking incident of attack on Dr. Deviprasad Shetty, the famous cardiologist.” Please make it viral. He should be shot.” ​​You can find the archive here.

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India Today Fact Check revealed that the viral video was fake. There is no record of Dr. Devi Shetty was attacked during a live show. The voices of both the newscaster and the doctor were changed.

OUR PROBE

We observed that the presenter’s or doctor’s words did not match their lip movements. This suggested that the audio was digitally manipulated, likely using AI tools.

We then reverse searched key frames from the brawl shown in the viral video, which resulted in the original clip shared by News Nation’s YouTube channel. In the video dated January 13, 2017, controversial religious figure and former Bigg Boss contestant Swami Om was seen getting into a fight during a televised debate. Dr. Devi Shetty was not mentioned once in the YouTube video.

When we searched keyframes from the portion of the viral video where the doctor talked about his new drug, we found an NDTV Profit interview from November 24, 2022 titled: “BQ Exclusive: Dr. Devi Shetty on health, heart and healing.”

In this interview, Dr. Shetty various health-related issues such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, doctor shortage and health insurance. However, there was no mention of pharmaceutical companies or recommendation of any medication as shown in the viral video. We also searched the internet to check whether Dr. Shetty has recommended medications for cardiovascular disease, but we have found no results that would suggest the same.

So it’s clear that this isn’t a real news segment at all. The Aaj Tak logo was added to unrelated videos in which speakers’ voices were manipulated to portray a false narrative.