Claim: Image shows the arrest of Gautam Adani, an Indian billionaire, who was recently indicted for fraud and bribery charges by the US federal prosecutors.
Fact: The image is AI-generated. Arrest warrants have been issued for Adani but there are no credible reports stating he has been taken into custody at the time of publishing.
On 21 November, Threads user posted (archive) a picture apparently showing the arrest of Gautam Adani, an Indian billionaire with close ties to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The caption reads, “If you know the news, then comment it!”
Gautam Adani is an Indian billionaire, with close ties to Indian Prime Minister Modi, who holds power in Indian politics because of his wealth.
US federal prosecutors indicted him on 20 November for fraud and charges related to “$265 million in bribes to government officials to help secure billions of dollars’ worth of contracts and financing,” according to the Associated Press.
Adani Green Energy Ltd., owned by the Adani Group, is at the centre of the indictment for a project to “sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government”. According to AP, this project was presented as “rosy and above-board to Wall Street investors who poured several billion dollars into the project over the last five years.”
Soon after his indictment, the Adani Groups, a multinational conglomerate founded by Gautam Adani, lost $34 billion in market value.
News reports say his arrest warrants have been issued in the US, but he is yet to be arrested.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check looked up reports but found no reputable news organisations published the image of Adani’s apparent arrest.
We then analysed the picture closely and found it has tell-tale signs of an AI-generation software.
Firstly, the faces of the police officers in the background are blurred or contorted, with some missing a nose or a mouth.
Secondly, Adani’s left shoe looks brown but a small part of his right shoe, which is visible upon closer examination, seems to be black.
Further, the signposts in the background are not visible and the buildings could not be geolocated to a specific landmark, which is another sign of AI’s failure to generate clear images.
The badges and insignia on the police officers uniforms are also blurred, making it difficult to pinpoint which area the police are from or where he was arrested.
The hand of a police officer holding Adani on the left has six fingers, whereas the finger of another officer on the right, highlighted in red, is larger than normal.
Finally, an analysis of the image through True Media and InVid’s AI detector showed that it is AI-generated.
Therefore, Soch Fact Check concludes the image of Gautam Adani’s arrest in the claim is not authentic.
Virality
On Threads, the image appeared here (archive)
On X here (first image), here, here, here.
Tax Concept, an Indian business and financial news website, used the image in its article here, Indian Herald posted it here, and another Indian news outlet The Followop published the image here.
Conclusion: An image circulating online showing the arrest of Gautam Adani is AI-generated.
Background image in cover photo: The New York Times
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com