This viral video of an NDTV anchor, allegedly reporting that the Tejas jet was not cleared to fly, is fake
On 21 November 2025, an Indian Air Force (IAF) Tejas fighter jet crashed during its aerobatic display at the Dubai Airshow 2025. The pilot, Wing Commander Namansh Syal from Kangra, lost his life in the accident. The IAF has announced a court of inquiry to determine the cause of the crash and has expressed condolences to the officer’s family (here, here, and here).
Following the incident, a video is circulating on social media claiming to show NDTV anchor Abhishek Sengupta reporting that an internal note had stated the crashed Tejas fighter jet was “not technically cleared to fly.” In the viral clip, Sengupta is purportedly heard saying: “We are investigating the shocking reason behind the Tejas jet crash at the Dubai Air Show. A major revelation has emerged. An internal report claims the jet wasn’t cleared to fly, yet it took off. This begs the burning question — who put pressure from the top? Who is the powerful hand that forced this take-off, leading to this national embarrassment? Whether it is pilot error or not, this revelation is very, very big.” The post also alleges that NDTV deleted the video after publishing it. Let’s verify the claim made in the post in this article.
Claim: The video shows NDTV anchor Abhishek Sengupta reporting that the Tejas jet, which crashed during the Dubai Airshow, was not technically cleared to fly.
Fact: The viral clip is digitally manipulated. The original NDTV report, uploaded on 21 November 2025, makes no mention of any internal report, lack of clearance, or political pressure. AI voice analysis also indicates that the audio is artificially generated. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) Fact Check has confirmed that the video is fake. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the claim, we conducted a Google search using relevant keywords but found no credible reports about NDTV anchor Abhishek Sengupta reporting that the Tejas jet, which crashed during the Dubai Airshow, was not technically cleared to fly.
We then conducted a reverse image search of key frames from the viral video, which led us to the original report uploaded on 21 November 2025 on NDTV’s X handle, featuring Abhishek Sengupta. The ground report explains how the Tejas fighter jet crashed in Dubai. At no point does he mention any internal report, lack of clearance, or political pressure. This confirms that the viral audio was digitally added to a video of Abhishek Sengupta.
Suspecting the video to be doctored, we analysed the viral clip using the AI voice detection tool Hiya, which indicated that the voice in the video is likely AI-generated / deepfake. This further confirms that the viral video is fake and digitally manipulated, with the original visuals paired with fabricated audio.
Additionally, an X post by PIB Fact Check on 24 November 2025 debunked the viral video, stating it was an AI-manipulated clip falsely claiming NDTV reported the Tejas jet lacked clearance.
To sum up, this viral video of an NDTV anchor, allegedly reporting that the Tejas jet was not cleared to fly, is fake.