A video purportedly showing IIT Bombay topper Priya Sharma supporting Professor Suryanarayan Dulla in connection with student Sahil Wakode’s death is going viral on social media. The video features a photograph of a young woman alongside a statement defending the professor and dismissing allegations of caste discrimination.
Social media users are sharing the video claiming that the woman is an IIT Bombay topper who has spoken out in support of the professor amid the ongoing controversy.
The above post can be seen here. (Archive)
NM VERIFIED
NewsMobile verified the claim and found that the image is AI-generated.
The NM team initiated its verification by running a keyword search to investigate the viral claim. However, we could not find any credible media reports corroborating the statement attributed to her in the viral video.
We then conducted a reverse image search of the photograph using Google Lens. The search did not yield any credible reports or relevant sources establishing the identity of the woman featured in the image or confirming the authenticity of the statement.
Upon closer examination, we noticed inconsistencies in the photograph, including the absence of clearly legible information on the identification badge worn by the woman. These observations raised further questions about the image’s authenticity.
To verify whether the photograph was artificially generated, we analysed it using Hive Moderation, an AI-detection tool. The analysis indicated a probability of over 99% that the image was AI-generated.
Hence, it is evident that the viral image is AI-generated. The statement attributed to the woman has not been independently verified, and the claim that the photograph depicts IIT Bombay topper Priya Sharma supporting Professor Dulla is misleading.
