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AI/Deepfake
Claim
Four images, claiming to show former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in revealing clothing when she was young.
Fact
Viral images are AI-generated and were posted on a social network for artists in 2023.
A set of four images, purportedly showing former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in revealing clothing, has gone viral on social media, claiming to be authentic photographs. The users have tagged BJP MP and actor-director Kangana Ranaut while sharing the images on X, questioning why she did not show this side of India’s first and only woman PM in her recently released movie, “Emergency”. The historical biographical drama based on the Emergency, which stars director and co-producer Ranaut as Gandhi, has garnered negative reviews and suffered setbacks at the box office upon its release on January 17, 2025.
“I hope @KanganaTeam showed the prostitution side of Indira Gandhi in her propaganda movie. How she entertained Russian and Soviet Union KGB agents in bed. All mentioned in a book called “The Mitrokhin- The KGB in the world”. Written by Russian KGB agents,” read one such X post, dated January 18, 2025. A similar post can be seen here, which has clocked 37.1K views so far.
Newschecker noted that the user claimed to have based his allegations on the Mitrokhin Archive, which consists of summarised notes taken by Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin, a former KGB archivist who defected to the United Kingdom after the fall of the Soviet Union. The users specifically named the book “The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB In The World”, which reveals the secrets of this cache, showing for the first time the extent of the KGB’s global power and influence. “The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West” was the first volume.
The book, published in 2018 by Penguin and written by Emeritus Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Cambridge Christopher Andrew, along with Mitrokhin, is based on Mitrokhin’s original notes and files, exfiltrated from Russia, which have been available to researchers since 2014 at the Churchill College Archives Centre, Cambridge.
We looked up the book and found two chapters dedicated to India, titled “The Special Relationship with India Part 1: The Supremacy of the Indian National Congress”, and “The Special Relationship with India Part 2: The Decline and Fall of Congress” respectively.
“The KGB’s first prolonged contact with Indira Gandhi had occurred during her first visit to the Soviet Union a few months after Stalin’s death in 1953. As well as keeping her under continuous surveillance, the Second Chief Directorate also surrounded her with handsome, attentive male admirers. Unaware of the orchestration of her welcome by the KGB, Indira was overwhelmed by the attention lavished on her. Though she did not mention the male admirers in letters to her father, she wrote to him, ‘Everybody – the Russians – have been so sweet to me … I am being treated like everybody’s only daughter – I shall be horribly spoilt by the time I leave. Nobody has ever been so nice to me.’ Indira wrote of a holiday arranged for her on the Black Sea, ‘I don’t think I have had such a holiday for years’,” read an excerpt from the book, under chapter 17. News reports on the revelations, which raised a storm in India in 2005 and was made open to the public for the first time in 2014, can be seen here and here, stating that India during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as prime minister had been infiltrated at several levels by the KGB, prompting demands for a parliamentary inquiry by the then leader of the opposition, LK Advani.
However, there is only one photo of Indira Gandhi in the book, with the caption reading, “An episode in the prolonged charm offensive against Indira Gandhi. Viktor Cherkashin of the New Delhi residency (second from the right) at the presentation of a portrait of Mrs Gandhi by the Soviet artist Ilya Glazunov,” raising our doubts on the viral images.
We then ran a reverse image search, which led us to this gallery featuring all the four viral images on DeviantArt, an online social network for artists and art enthusiasts where the members upload tens of thousands of original pieces of art every day, everything from painting and sculpture to digital art, pixel art, films, and anime.
All the images were uploaded on May 5, 2023 by a user named, “HerSofterSide”, whose bio read, “… This unique page is dedicated to showcasing some of the most well-known and beloved female characters in a more private and delicate setting. Here, we celebrate and explore the softer side of these powerful, multifaceted women, as they appear in their most personal moments, adorned only in their undergarments. These intimate glimpses are typically reserved for the eyes of a trusted partner or spouse, but we invite you to appreciate the beauty and vulnerability of these iconic figures as they reveal a different aspect of their femininity.”
We ran the images past Hive Moderation, an AI-image detection tool, which stated that the images were 99.7%-99.9% likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content. We also ran the images past another tool, Sight Engine, which noted that all the four images are 99% likely to be AI-generated.
Also Read: Viral Photos Of Salman Khan Meeting Saif Ali Khan At Hospital Are AI-Generated
Viral images claiming to show former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in revealing clothing found to be AI-generated.
Sources
DeviantArt gallery
Hive Moderation tool
SightEngine tool
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