A video of Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, purportedly wanting to 'hang cockroaches', referring to Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protesters is being widely shared on social media.
What does he say?: In the video, Goyal can be heard saying,
"It is my clear belief that we should publicly hang two or three cockroaches. So that this Cockroach Janata Party realises the reality of what our power is and to what extent we can go. When these people see two or three of their cockroaches hanging like this, all their ruckus will be pacified, and they will end their protest themselves and run away with their tails between their legs. My direct advice to Modi ji is that without any hesitation, he should do exactly what he did in Gujarat. This is now the only way left to deal with these miscreants."
How did we find out the truth?: We ran a reverse image search on the clip, which led us to an X post by news agency PTI, which showed visuals resembling the viral claim.
In this video, Goyal spoke about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to set up fast-track courts for paper leaks, promising the "strictest possible action" against those responsible.
He then requested the Opposition to discuss the issue and not politicise it, encouraging dialogue instead of running away.
News organisations ANI and DD News also shared similar visuals, where Goyal spoke about the decisions taken by the Prime Minister and the NEET paper leak issue.
None of the visuals or reports shared showed Goyal mentioning the CJP by name, or calling for any kind of action against protesters.
Is it AI?: We ran a check using Hiya's Deepfake Voice Detector, which gave the audio an authenticity score of seven out of 100, noting that the voice was "likely a deepfake."
A similar check on Hive Moderation's AI-generated content detection tool showed that the tool gave the video a 68.6 percent likelihood of containing AI-generated audio.
Goyal, PIB clarify: Goyal took to X to categorically state that his remarks were "maliciously doctored using AI to create and circulate a deepfake video in an attempt to spread misinformation," and that he had filed an FIR regarding the video.
The Press Information Bureau's (PIB) fact-checking wing, too, stated that the video was fake and AI-generated.
Conclusion: A deepfake of Goyal is being shared to falsely claim that he wanted a few of the protesters hanged.
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