Sudhir Chaudhary airs misleading footage on Doordarshan debut show ‘decode’
New Delhi: On his debut show for state-run broadcaster Doordarshan, senior anchor Sudhir Chaudhary aired unrelated and outdated videos, falsely claiming they showed Indian air defence systems thwarting Pakistani attacks. The show, titled Decode, premiered on DD News at 9 PM on 15 May 2025.
Around the 15:25-minute mark of the episode, Chaudhary presented visuals of missile strikes, stating that India’s armed forces had cornered Pakistan. However, Alt News found that the footage was from an Iranian missile strike on Israel’s Nevatim airbase in October 2024. The same video was uploaded by DD India on YouTube on 2 October 2024, captioned as an Iranian attack on the Negev Desert airbase.
Later in the show, at the 26:48-minute mark, Chaudhary claimed that Pakistan had attacked Indian cities and airbases, but these attacks were foiled by Indian air defence systems, including the indigenous “Akashteer.” During this narration, visuals of an aerial combat over a night sky were shown. This video, too, has no connection to the India-Pakistan conflict. It had previously gone viral during the conflict and was fact-checked by Alt News as a 2021 video of Israel’s Iron Dome system.
Interestingly, the version of the Decode episode now available on YouTube has this portion edited out. The clip now starts with Chaudhary saying, “जैसे-जैसे समय बढ़ रहा है, इस युद्ध की नई-नई डिटेल्स सामने आ रहा है… मेड इन इंडिया है, और इसका नाम है आकाशतीर,” indicating that the previous claims and visuals were removed. However, a social media user who recorded the original telecast on her TV shared the unedited clip, confirming the misleading segment.
Sudhir Chaudhary’s debut on DD News comes after Prasar Bharati signed a reported ₹15-crore annual contract with him for the weekday show. His previous stint with Aaj Tak had also begun with a misquote falsely attributed to Mark Twain, which Alt News debunked.
Over the years, Chaudhary has faced several fact-checks by Alt News, including for falsely accusing MP Mahua Moitra of plagiarism, misreporting on the Kathua case, spreading communal narratives like “jihad” charts, and misrepresenting farmers' protest leaders. In February 2025, the NBDSA had also asked Aaj Tak to remove an entire episode of Black & White anchored by Chaudhary over content that violated LGBTQIA+ dignity.
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Passport fraud: Police officer arrested for forging verification records
Mangaluru (Karnataka) (PTI): A police officer has been arrested for allegedly forging verification records to facilitate issuance of a passport to a local resident in Dakshina Kannada district, police said on Tuesday.
The case emerged following discrepancies in the verification of Shakti Das' passport application submitted in February 2025, they said.
Authorities reported that an initial application was flagged due to an address mismatch.
Das re-submitted his application in June 2025, but the investigation revealed that police inspector Pradeep had forged a report under the name of a beat officer, falsifying records to circumvent the verification process.
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The fraudulent activities came to light when documents were reviewed on December 19, revealing an attempt to destroy evidence related to the case, a senior police officer said.
As a result, a case has been filed against Das and Pradeep at Vitla police station under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita including forgery and criminal breach of trust, police said.
Pradeep has been taken into custody and presented to the court, which has ordered his judicial remand, they said.
According to police, inquiries are on to ascertain the background of Das, who is still at large.
