Claim
Photo of actor and fierce BJP critic Prakash Raj taking a holy dip at the Sangam - the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers - during the ongoing Mahakumbh Mela in Prayagraj.
The archived version of the post can be seen here, which has clocked 233.2K views so far.
Fact
Newschecker first ran a keyword search for "Prakash Raj Kumbh dip," which did not lead us to any report nor photo of the actor at the festival. We also noticed the overly glossy texture of the purported photo, a sign pointing towards the image being AI-generated.
We then ran the image past Hive Moderation, an AI-image detection tool, which stated that the photo was "99.9% likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content". Similarly, the SightEngine tool, too, stated that the image was 99% likely to be AI-generated.
AI videos and images of celebrities at the Mahakumbh have been creating waves online, including sports stars like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, world leaders such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Hollywood stars like Will Smith, among others.
UPDATE ON 31/01/2025: Actor Prakash Raj
Result: Altered Media
Sources
Hive Moderation tool
SightEngine tool