- By Sharad Prakash Asthana
- Wed, 16 Jul 2025 08:22 PM (IST)
- Source:JNM
Fact Check: Amid chaos over waterlogging in several parts of the country during the rainy season, a video is going viral on social media, where a woman reporter can be seen falling into a drain in a waterlogged street. It has been claimed that the person is a journalist from Shivpuri who got injured while covering flash floods..
Vishvas News investigated the viral claim and found it to be AI-generated. The Shivpuri journalist being impersonated in the video has refuted the claim.
Viral Post
Facebook user 'Virat Vasundhara' posted a video (archive link) on July 10, 2025 with the caption, "The journalist madam should have been careful while covering but she fell into the drain, journalism is a very risky job, especially when during field coverage our eyes are on the camera and an accident like this happens with the alleged Shivpuri journalist who slipped and got injured during coverage, it is said that madam is currently on bed rest..."
Facebook user Nepal Singh Baghel posted this video (archive link) on July 10, 2025 claiming that it features Shivpuri journalist Manika Sharma.
This video has also been uploaded (archive link) on the YouTube channel Champion Sahab on July 9, 2025 alleging it as an incident from Delhi.
Investigation
To verify the viral claim, we checked the video closely and noticed some anomalies. For instance, the female reporter's eyes do not look natural. In the last part of the clip, her eyelids are not blinking, and her eyes look big. Despite her falling into water, the reporter's clothes are not dripping. This made us doubt the authenticity of the video.
When we searched for the original version of this clip, we found the original clip on the profile of Instagram user Bhairalbillu, uploaded on July 5, 2025.
However, the post does not provide any information about the video. In the comment section, some users claim it is real, while others have called it fake. The account has shared several similar videos that appear to be digitally created. Instagram bio credits user viral_bisht as the creator of these videos.
A video was posted on this profile on July 10, 2025 tagging Instagram user viral_bisht. It was stated that this video is AI-generated. Bisht has posted another video on his Instagram account showing how he creates these videos.
We contacted Instagram user viral_bisht, i.e., Mayank Bisht, regarding this, who confirmed that this is his “original video”.
We captured a key frame from the video and checked it using the AI image detection tool WasItAI, which indicated the probability of being AI-generated.
We also contacted our partner, the Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), to investigate the video. According to their analysis, the reporter’s eyes appear to bulge unnaturally, and her eyelids momentarily vanish as she begins to fall, making her look unnatural. Additionally, when the video is viewed in slow motion, her fingers appear to be stuck together.
Lastly, we spoke to Shivpuri journalist Manika Sharma, who confirmed that the viral video is not hers. She said that she recently fell down at home and got injured. This video was shared to mock her injury, which many people assumed to be real.
We scanned the profile of the user who shared the AI-generated video and found that the user has 14000 followers.
Conclusion: The video of a woman TV journalist falling into a waterlogged street while reporting is AI-generated. Users are sharing it, believing it is real. It has no connection with either Shivpuri or Delhi.