'India is neither an ally or a superpower': Delhi Police file FIR against Prashant Bhushan for sharing a fake video of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

Delhi Police has registered a case against advocate Prashant Bhushan over a video falsely attributed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which showed him purportedly criticising India’s domestic affairs and its purchase of Russian oil. The Special Cell filed the FIR on November 3 after the clip came to the police’s notice during cyber patrolling, ANI reported.

The controversy centres on a video Bhushan shared on X, presenting the purported remarks by Lavrov as a “tight slap” against the Indian government. The clip was subsequently rejected as fake by the Ministry of External Affairs’ Fact Check unit and the Russian Embassy, both of which said the remarks attributed to the Russian minister were fabricated.

Delhi Police said its attention was drawn to the video after the social media handle @thequotesnews claimed that manipulated footage of Lavrov, containing remarks hostile to India, had been circulated through Bhushan’s account, @pbhushan1.


Take a look at the fake video:


In its statement on X, the police alleged that the video was being used to spread misleading, defamatory and inflammatory content, potentially causing public disturbance and fuelling rumours.

The case has been registered as FIR No. 263/26 at the Special Cell police station under Sections 336(4), 353(1)(c), 356 and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 66C of the Information Technology Act.

MEA and Russian Embassy flag video as fabricated

The MEA Fact Check unit issued a warning on X on Tuesday, stating that the video of Lavrov being circulated in the post was fake. The Russian Embassy also dismissed the remarks attributed to the foreign minister and confirmed that the footage had been fabricated.

Government fact-checking agencies said the clip contained digitally altered visuals, audio and captions, contradicting the impression that Lavrov had made the statements shown in the video.

Sources point to possible attempt to strain India-Russia ties

Separately, sources told ET Bureau that the AI-generated video was likely created by Pakistani handlers with the alleged aim of damaging relations between India and Russia.

The sources also drew attention to the timing of the clip's circulation, which comes ahead of the SCO Civilisational Dialogue scheduled to take place in Delhi this month. The alleged involvement of Pakistani handlers has not been independently established.