As India celebrates its Navy Day today, a 48-second video featuring Indian Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi has circulated by a pro-Pakistan handle, claiming that he stated the Indian Navy intentionally chose to abstain from Operation Sindoor to avoid “global embarrassment.” The video also suggests that the Indian Air Force could learn from this decision.
This video was shared by a user on X, with a caption quoting Admiral Tripathi’s alleged statement: “Keeping our capital ships inside was a deliberate force-protection and perception-management choice. You deny the enemy the spectacle they are preparing for. In that sense, the Navy protected its credibility, and there is a lesson in this for the Air Force too: sometimes the strongest move against Pakistan is refusing the engagement they are trying to script.”
Fact Check:
The video is fake and digitally altered. The DFRAC team located the original video of Admiral Tripathi, recorded during a press briefing before Indian Navy Day. Upon reviewing the original footage, we confirmed that the claims made in the altered version were never expressed by him. In fact, Admiral Tripathi indicated that Operation Sindoor is still ongoing and mentioned that the Indian Navy’s aggressive posture had compelled the Pakistan Navy to remain in its ports during the May India-Pakistan conflict. He also discussed various defence platforms, including submarines, warships, and naval aircraft, which the Indian Navy plans to acquire or has already inducted.
Our team also investigated whether the video had been altered using Artificial Intelligence by an AI-detecting website, SiteEngine. The results reveal that the video in question was 79% AI-generated.
Conclusion
In summary, the video claiming that Indian Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi stated the Navy wisely opted out of Operation Sindoor to avoid significant losses is false and digitally manipulated. He spoke on an entirely different subject.
