Claim: A viral video allegedly shows Bangladeshi journalist Mahfuz Anam telling India Today that India’s intelligence agency RAW was trying to prevent Bangladesh from joining the Mecca Pact and that New Delhi was promoting an alternative defence pact involving a Middle Eastern country and Israel.
Verdict: False
What Is The Claim
A Facebook page named ‘MatriX MojtabA’ shared a video on August 12, 2026, showing senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai interviewing Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star in Bangladesh. The video allegedly shows Anam saying that India’s intelligence agency, RAW, was attempting to prevent Bangladesh from joining the Mecca Pact. The clip also purportedly has him claiming that India was promoting an alternative defence arrangement involving Bangladesh, a Middle Eastern country and Israel. The video was presented as an India Today interview and circulated on social media as evidence that Anam had made the remarks.
Fact-Check Analysis
FactCheck India traced the viral footage to an original India Today interview featuring Rajdeep Sardesai and Mahfuz Anam. A comparison of the viral clip with the original footage shows the same interview setting, with Sardesai and Anam appearing in the same positions and wearing the same clothes. However, the original video was published by India Today on August 8, 2024, nearly two years before the viral claim. The original interview runs for approximately 14 minutes. It focuses on Bangladesh’s political situation following the July 2024 uprising and the developments surrounding the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government. A review of the complete original conversation found no mention of RAW, the Mecca Pact or an India-led alternative defence pact involving Israel and a Middle Eastern country. This is significant because the viral video’s alleged discussion about the Mecca Pact could not have been part of the original 2024 conversation in the form presented.
AI-Generated Audio
Further analysis of the viral clip found indications that its audio had been manipulated. The audio was extracted from the viral video and analysed using Resemble AI, an AI-audio detection tool. The analysis indicated that the voice in the viral clip was AI-generated rather than Mahfuz Anam’s original speech. Another independent fact-check by Bangladesh-based Rumor Scanner also examined the same claim and found signs of AI manipulation. It reported that the original India Today interview contains none of the alleged statements and that the viral clip had been overlaid with AI-generated audio.
What Does the Original Video Show?
The authentic India Today interview was published in August 2024 and featured Mahfuz Anam discussing Bangladesh’s July uprising and the political and security developments that followed. The footage was later repurposed to create a misleading narrative by retaining the original visuals while replacing the speech with fabricated audio. This type of manipulation can make a false statement appear credible because viewers recognise the setting, interviewer and person speaking, even though the words attributed to the individual were never actually spoken.
Context: The Mecca Pact
The viral claim refers to a Mecca Pact reportedly signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on August 7, 2026, making the alleged discussion particularly misleading because the video footage itself is from 2024. The use of an old interview to attribute statements about a later development is a key indication that the clip has been taken out of context and manipulated.
Conclusion By Factcheck India
The viral video claiming that Bangladeshi journalist Mahfuz Anam said India’s RAW was attempting to stop Bangladesh from joining the Mecca Pact is false. The visuals are from a genuine 2024 India Today interview between Anam and Rajdeep Sardesai. However, the original interview does not contain the statements attributed to Anam about RAW, the Mecca Pact or an alternative defence pact involving India, Israel and a Middle Eastern country. The audio in the viral clip has been replaced with AI-generated audio, creating a fabricated statement and falsely attributing it to Mahfuz Anam. Fact Check India found that the viral video has been digitally manipulated. The footage comes from an authentic India Today interview with Mahfuz Anam recorded in August 2024, but the original audio has been replaced with AI-generated audio. In the original interview, Anam does not mention RAW, the Mecca Pact or any alternative defence pact involving India, a Middle Eastern country and Israel.