Did Supriya Sule Really Ask To Cash Out Bitcoins Ahead Of Maharashtra Polls? Evidence Suggests...
On the eve of Maharashtra's election, the BJP released alleged audio recordings of Supriya Sule and Nana Patole discussing the misuse of stolen bitcoins.
On November 19, the eve of Maharashtra’s Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released several audio clips on their official X account, claiming that they were evidence of Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Supriya Sule and Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole misusing bitcoins from a 2018 cryptocurrency fraud to influence the polls.
In the clip, Sule purportedly tells Mehta, “Boss, why don’t you go ahead and cash out all the bitcoins? The prices are favorable right now, and with the elections approaching, we’re going to need substantial funds. Don’t worry about the inquiries; once we’re in power, we’ll handle them.”
However, a Logically Facts analysis found indications that this audio clip, along with a string of others, is fake and likely created using artificial intelligence (AI).
This recording followed allegations by former Indian Police Services (IPS) officer Ravindranath Patil that Sule and Patole had cashed out misappropriated bitcoins from the 2018 case and used the funds to campaign for the national elections held earlier this year and the ongoing Maharashtra polls.
Patil also named Amitabh Gupta, then Pune’s police commissioner, and IPS Bhagyashri Navtake, then deputy police commissioner, as being involved in the alleged misappropriation. He also claimed that Sule had approached Gaurav Mehta, an employee of an audit firm named Sarathi Associates, who he alleged was a key witness in the 2018 fraud case.
In the four clips, purported conversations between Mehta and Gupta, Sule and Mehta, Patole and Gupta can be heard (archived here, here, here, and here). These clips were also shared by various social media users, many of them BJP supporters, who used the clips to criticize Sule and Patole’s alleged misconduct amid the elections.
Audio clip purportedly featuring Mehta and Sule
In the audio clip supposedly featuring Sule talking to Mehta, there are four recordings of a female voice addressing someone as ‘Gaurav’. The woman can be heard demanding cash in exchange for bitcoins for the upcoming elections. The same voice assures ‘Gaurav’ that they need not be concerned over an investigation and that it will be taken care of “once they are in power.”
However, a Logically Facts analysis of the voice clips revealed multiple discrepancies. First, there are unnatural pauses between the words—generally an indication of the use of artificial intelligence (AI); second, the voice sounds robotic without the modulation commonly heard in human speech. Additionally, a comparison with Sule’s voice from other interviews (archived here and here) reveals noticeable variations, suggesting the audio clip may have been fabricated.
The Misinformation Combat Alliance's Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), which Logically Facts is a part of, also analyzed the audio clip using deepfake detection tools Hive Audio Detector, Hiya AI Voice Detection, True Media, and Deepfake-o-meter.
Deepfake-o-meter indicated a high likelihood of the audio clip being AI-generated, with its five classifiers rating the clip’s likelihood of being AI-generated at 99.8 percent, 100 percent, 88.9 percent, 77.7 percent, and 96.0 percent.
Hive Audio Detector also found a high likelihood of the clip being AI-generated. TrueMedia indicated that there was substantial evidence of manipulation in the clip. In a breakdown of the overall analysis, the tool gave a 100 percent confidence score to the AI-generated audio detector, 97 percent confidence score to the audio authenticity detector, and 95 percent confidence score to its voice anti-spoofing analysis.
Hiya AI Voice Detection also noted that the audio seemed AI-generated, adding that there is a 3 percent match with live human markers.
Purported audio of Patole and Gupta
In this clip, which the BJP claimed showed Congress Maharashtra President Nana Patole “pressurizing Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta for money,” a male voice can be heard saying, “Amitabh, what happened to the money I had asked for yesterday?”
The deepfake detection tools used by Misinformation Combat Alliance's DAU found little evidence of manipulation in this clip. DAU noted that this may be due to two factors: the brevity of the audio clip, which limited the tools' ability to detect manipulation, and the tools' insufficient training to analyze content in Marathi.
However, comparing the audio clip with Patole’s actual voice from older interviews (archived here and here) revealed noticeable variations, suggesting that the clip may have been fabricated; the accent is also different here.
Purported audio clips of Mehta and Gupta
The BJP released two sets of alleged voice recordings of conversations between Mehta and Gupta. In one, a male voice, seemingly belonging to Mehta, can be heard addressing someone as “sir” and stating, “There is no need to worry about bitcoin transactions… if any investigation occurs… trust me, no one can trace it back to us.”
Here, there is no voice modulation; further, the natural pauses between sentences in human speech are missing, giving the voice a robotic quality.
DAU analyzed the audio clips; Hiya AI Voice Detection noted that the audio seemed AI-generated, adding that there is a 14 percent match with live human markers. TrueMedia indicated that there was substantial evidence of manipulation in the clip. Similarly, Hive Audio Detector also found a high likelihood of the clip being AI-generated.
In the second clip posted by BJP, consisting of four separate voice notes, a male voice, purportedly belonging to Gupta, can be heard addressing someone named Gaurav, asking him to arrange for large amounts of cash in exchange for bitcoins.
Here, the odd pronunciation of the Hindi names “Lakshmi,” “Bhagyashri,” and “Vinod” is one discrepancy that indicates the use of AI; further, there are unnatural pauses and a lack of pauses in places.
A comparison with interviews and speeches (archived here and here) with Gupta revealed that the voice heard in the viral audio clips doesn’t match his original voice from these interviews, and the accent also does not match his speech.
DAU analyzed the audio clips; TrueMedia indicated that there was substantial evidence of manipulation in the clip, and Hiya AI Voice Detection also noted that the audio seemed AI-generated, adding that there is a four percent match with live human markers. Similarly, Hive Audio Detector also found a high likelihood of the clip being AI-generated.
Sule and Patole react to clips
On Tuesday, Sule said that she had filed a criminal complaint to the Election Commission of India and the SP, Cyber Crime, Maharashtra, against Mehta and Patil, over the “fake allegations made of bitcoin misappropriation.” In an X post (archived here), she attached a copy of the complaint, which said that her voice had been faked to “add fake credibility to their allegations”. She has also demanded for an FIR to be filed and an investigation to be carried out.
Familiar tactics of spreading false information to manipulate the righteous voters are being resorted to, a night before the polling day. We have filed a criminal complaint to the Hon’ble ECI & the Cyber crime department against the fake allegations made of bitcoin… pic.twitter.com/g8Selv1DFk
— Supriya Sule (@supriya_sule) November 19, 2024
"Not my voice. All these voice notes and messages are fake," Sule also told reporters.
Congress leader Patole has also stated that he would take the legal route to fight the allegations against him, adding that an FIR has been registered against BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi and others, which will be followed by a defamation suit.
“The voice in the clip being circulated is not mine. Even (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi recognizes my voice,” he also told the media.
However, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has claimed that he recognized the voices in the audio clips as those of his cousin (Sule) and a former colleague, alleging that the tone and voice matched theirs. “An inquiry will be conducted, and the truth will emerge," Pawar told the media.
BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, who led the press conference in which the purported audio clips were released to the media, went on to ask if other Congress leaders are involved in bitcoin transactions (archived here). “Is the Congress party or any of its leaders involved in any bitcoin transaction or not?” he said.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) reportedly searched Mehta's Raipur premises on Wednesday over the allegations.
Logically Facts has contacted BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi for comment. This story will be updated if and when we receive a response.
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