Delhi Police have registered an FIR against Advocate Prashant Bhushan for allegedly sharing a doctored video of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on social media platform X.

The case came to light on November 3, 2026, during cyber patrolling. Police noticed a post by the social media account @thequotesnews, which claimed that a manipulated video of Lavrov had been shared from Bhushan's X handle.

The video allegedly showed Lavrov making critical remarks about India and its foreign policy, creating the impression that Russia was unhappy with India's position on international issues. Bhushan while sharing the video, captioned, “A tight slap by the Russian Foreign Minister on India. What kind of advice was Jaishankar giving to Russia?”

However, the video was found to be fake. The Russian Embassy in India also criticised the circulation of AI-generated fake content and asked users to stop sharing such material.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also issued a clarification, stating that the video of the Russian Foreign Minister was fake.

The Union Minister and former Law Minister, Kiren Rijiju also reacted to the controversy. In a post on X today, he accused Bhushan of previously circulating fake news about judges and ministers. He tweeted, "Earlier also, this Prashant Bhushan had circulated a fake news that Judges and Ministers went to London to play Badminton! And he even didn't apologize for it. It's part of the conspiracy to destroy India's image and constitutional institutions of India."

Delhi Police have registered FIR No. 263/26 at the Special Cell under Sections 336(4), 353(1)(c), 356 and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 66C of the Information Technology Act.

Police allege that the video was circulated with misleading and inflammatory claims that could spread rumours and disturb public order.

The investigation is underway. The video now appears to have been deleted from Bhushan's X account.

Prashant BhushanFake News

Suchita Shukla

Associate Editor

Suchita Shukla is an Associate Editor at Verdictum, with a strong foundation in legal research and writing, she brings over 4.5 years of experience to the table, having honed her skills in the dynamic field of law. She covers Supreme Court and High Courts. She completed her BA-LLB (Hons.) 5-year course with specialisation in Intellectual Property rights from Galgotias University. Since 2019, apart from having worked at a legal publishing house she has also ventured into legal journalism.