Low reported severity Investigation Opened

Satara, Maharashtra: supporters of Public Works minister Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale allege that the minister's photo was morphed with AI to link the minister to a dance event and spread on social media; police registered a case against four social media accounts in September 2026

Divya Marathi reported on 8 September 2026 that supporters of Public Works minister Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale alleged that the minister's photograph had been morphed using artificial intelligence and linked to a dance programme in Satara. According to the complaint, the photo was allegedly edited and circulated on social media from a YouTube channel, combining photographs from two different events and giving them a false context; supporters said this was done to defame the minister politically. Supporters, including the municipal council president and the BJP group leader, went to Satara city police station on Tuesday and complained against the YouTube channel. On a named complainant's first information report, police registered a case against four social media handles and account holders under sections 353(2), 356(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 67 of the Information Technology Act. Police accepted the complaint and began examining the posts, the photographs and the circumstances; Divya Marathi says the facts will become clear only after an investigation of what alteration was made to the photograph with AI and who created and spread the posts.

AI system: Unidentified image tool (suspected)
Occurred: Event date unknown
Reported: 8 September 2026
Event location: India

What the AI did: Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm: Reputational Harm

Whose AI use: Someone else’s AI use
Setting: Everyday life

Evidence: AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source; 3 claims: 3 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed: 1 person

AI system as recorded: A photograph of the minister allegedly morphed with AI and linked to a dance event, circulated by a YouTube channel and social media accounts, per the complaint as reported by Divya Marathi; supporters also speak of 'AI or photo editing'. The tool is not named

What Happened

The allegation. On Tuesday 8 September 2026, according to Divya Marathi, political tempers rose in Satara over an allegation that a photograph of Public Works minister Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale had been morphed with artificial intelligence (AI) technology and linked to a dance programme in the town. The minister's supporters said the photographs had nothing to do with the actual event. The complaint states that the minister's photograph was allegedly edited and circulated on social media from a YouTube channel, and that photographs from two different events were combined and given a false context. Supporters alleged this was done to defame the minister politically.

Complaint. Supporters, including the municipal council president and the BJP group leader, went to Satara city police station and filed a complaint against the YouTube channel, asking police to investigate the posts and take legal action. At the station they warned that circulating a person's photograph in a false context by misusing 'AI or photo editing' technology is serious and that such defamation on social media would not be tolerated. The BJP group leader condemned the posts.

Police. Police accepted the complaint and began examining the posts, the photographs and the circumstances. On the first information report of a named complainant, a case was registered against four social media handles and account holders (three Facebook profiles or pages and a YouTube and Instagram channel) under BNS sections 353(2), 356(2) and 3(5) and IT Act section 67. Divya Marathi says the facts will become clear only after the investigation establishes what alteration was made with AI and who created and spread the posts.

Limits. One report was read and the morphed image was not inspected. The AI element is the complainants' allegation; their own warning refers to 'AI or photo editing', and the report describes two photographs being combined. The article text reports no statement by the minister; it embeds a post from the minister's official Facebook page whose content could not be retrieved. The web page hides the end of the opening paragraph behind a paywall overlay; the complete paragraph was read from the article content embedded in the same page, which the page description repeats.

Reported harm

Supporters of the minister allege that a photo of the minister, morphed with AI, was circulated on social media linking the minister to a dance event with which the minister had no connection, in order to cause political defamation; police registered a case (Divya Marathi).

Outcome

Ongoing

On a named complainant's first information report, Satara city police registered a case against four social media handles and account holders (Facebook accounts and a YouTube and Instagram channel) under BNS sections 353(2), 356(2) and 3(5) and IT Act section 67; a police inspector is supervising the investigation (Divya Marathi, 8 September 2026). No arrest is reported.

What remains unknown

Whether the image was made with an AI tool or with ordinary photo editing, and which tool.
When the image was first posted and how widely it spread.
Whether the minister commented (the article embeds a post from the minister's Facebook page that could not be retrieved), and whether anyone was arrested or charged.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: suspected. Divya Marathi reports an allegation that the photograph was morphed through artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The supporters' warning refers to misuse of 'AI or photo editing' technology, and the complaint describes photographs from two different events combined. The report says the AI alteration is still under investigation. No tool is named and the image was not inspected. The image depicts the minister (depicted_or_impersonated).

3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Supporters of the minister alleged that the minister's photograph had been morphed with AI technology and linked to a dance programme in Satara, combining photographs from two different events and giving them a false context, in order to defame the minister politically.

Causal attribution. The complainants' allegation as reported; the AI alteration is under police investigation.

divyamarathi.bhaskar.com(opens in new tab) supports · Marathi
'तंत्रज्ञानाच्या माध्यमातून मॉर्फ करून ते साताऱ्यातील एका नृत्य कार्यक्रमाशी जोडल्याचा आरोप झाल्याने'; 'दोन वेगवेगळ्या घटनांमधील छायाचित्रे एकत्र करून त्यांना चुकीचा संदर्भ देण्यात आला असून, हा प्रकार राजकीय बदनामीच्या उद्देशाने करण्यात आल्याचा आरोप समर्थकांनी केला आहे.'

Reported According to the complaint, the photograph was allegedly edited and circulated on social media from a YouTube channel, and supporters filed a complaint against the channel at Satara city police station.

Causal attribution. Content of the complaint as reported.

divyamarathi.bhaskar.com(opens in new tab) supports · Marathi
'संबंधित यूट्यूब चॅनेलवरून शिवेंद्रसिंहराजे भोसले यांचे छायाचित्र कथितरीत्या संपादित करून समाजमाध्यमांवर प्रसारित करण्यात आल्याचे तक्रारीत नमूद करण्यात आले आहे.'; 'सातारा शहर पोलिस ठाण्यात धाव घेत संबंधित यूट्यूब चॅनेलविरोधात तक्रार दाखल केली.'

Reported Police registered a case against four social media handles and account holders under BNS sections 353(2), 356(2) and 3(5) and IT Act section 67, and Satara city police are investigating; Divya Marathi says the facts will become clear only after investigation of what alteration was made to the photograph with AI and who created and circulated the posts.

Causal attribution. Divya Marathi's report of the registered case; no finding is reported.

divyamarathi.bhaskar.com(opens in new tab) supports · Marathi
'भारतीय न्याय संहिता (BNS) 353 (2), 356(2), 3(5) आणि माहिती तंत्रज्ञान कायदा (IT Act) 67 अन्वये गुन्हा नोंदवण्यात आला आहे'; 'एआयच्या माध्यमातून छायाचित्रात नेमका कोणता फेरफार करण्यात आला, पोस्ट कोणी तयार केली आणि ती समाजमाध्यमांवर कोणी प्रसारित केली, याचा तपास झाल्यानंतरच'; 'सातारा शहर पोलीस अधिक तपास करत आहेत'

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

Divya Marathi, 8 September 2026: एआय मॉर्फिंगवरून साताऱ्यात राजे समर्थक आक्रमक(opens in new tab)
s1 · divyamarathi.bhaskar.com · News report · Marathi · Inspected · 8 September 2026 · Primary

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read live in Marathi on 2026-10-03 (Divya Marathi, Satara, 8 September 2026). The visible lead paragraph is truncated by a paywall overlay; its continuation was read from the article content embedded in the same page (also repeated in the page description). Researcher translation. Applies to s1.

Event countries: India. Affected-person countries: India. Court countries: Unknown.

The image linked the minister to a dance programme in Satara, Maharashtra, and the complaint and case were registered at Satara city police station (Divya Marathi). Where the posts were made from is not stated. No court is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-03: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a core case: a photograph of a state minister, allegedly morphed with AI, was circulated linking the minister to a dance event, and police registered a case on a defamation complaint. The minister is a public figure and is named as the source does. One report; the AI element is the complainants' allegation and is under investigation.

People described

Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale, Public Works minister (public figure); the complaint was made by the minister's supporters

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person, the minister depicted in the allegedly morphed photograph (Divya Marathi). Supporters who complained are not counted. Exact 1.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Satara, Maharashtra: supporters of Public Works minister Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale allege that the minister's photo was morphed with AI to link the minister to a dance event and spread on social media; police registered a case against four social media accounts in September 2026. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-satara-maharashtra-minister-photo-allegedly-ai-morphed-into-dance-event-fir

BibTeX

@misc{2026_satara_maharashtra_minister_photo_allegedly_ai_morphed_into_dance_event_fir,
  title = {Satara, Maharashtra: supporters of Public Works minister Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale allege that the minister's photo was morphed with AI to link the minister to a dance event and spread on social media; police registered a case against four social media accounts in September 2026},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-satara-maharashtra-minister-photo-allegedly-ai-morphed-into-dance-event-fir}
}

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