New Delhi: Delhi Police has registered an FIR after advocate Prashant Bhushan allegedly circulated a doctored video of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which purportedly showed him criticising India over its internal affairs and oil purchases.
In a post on X, Delhi Police said that the matter came to its notice during cyber patrolling on November 3.
“03.11.2026, during cyber patrolling, it came to notice that the social media handle @thequotesnews has claimed that a purported doctored video of the Russian Foreign Minister, hostile to India, was shared from Prashant Bhushan’s handle @pbhushan1,” Delhi Police said.
The police further stated that the video carried allegations of disseminating misleading, defamatory and inflammatory content with the intention of inciting public disturbance and spreading rumours. “Through the said video, there is an allegation of disseminating misleading, defamatory, and inflammatory content to incite public disturbance and spread rumours.”
The FIR has been registered under Sections 336(4) (forgery), 353(1)(c) (public mischief), 356 (defamation) and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 66C of the Information Technology Act. “In this regard, a case under Section 336(4)/353(1)(c)/356/340(2) BNS and 66C IT Act has been registered as FIR No. 263/26 at PS Special Cell,” Delhi Police said in its post.
The FIR has been registered by the Special Cell of Delhi Police in connection with the alleged circulation of the manipulated video. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Fact Check unit had also issued a warning on X, rejecting the authenticity of the video shared by Bhushan. “Fake Alert!!! The video of the Russian Foreign Minister being used in this post is fake!” the MEA Fact Check unit said on Tuesday.
The Russian Embassy also rejected the purported remarks attributed to Lavrov and confirmed that the video was fabricated. The development comes after Bhushan had shared the video on social media, presenting the purported exchange as a “tight slap” against the Indian government. However, government fact-checking agencies clarified that the clip had been digitally altered and contained fabricated audio and captions.
This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.