Fake AI videos of full mosque demolition sparked Ujjain clashes

Police in Madhya Pradesh say AI-generated videos falsely showing Ujjain's Shahi Masjid completely demolished helped draw the crowd that clashed with officers on September 28, 2026. The clips circulated on social media in the hours before the confrontation, according to News9Live, which reported the police briefing.

The dispute was real, but far smaller than the videos claimed. Authorities had approved removing only the section of the mosque that falls within a road-widening alignment ahead of the 2028 Simhastha Kumbh Mela, a plan the Madhya Pradesh High Court cleared on September 9, according to Moneycontrol. The fabricated clips showed the entire structure coming down instead.

What the false clips showed

Ujjain Superintendent of Police Pradeep Sharma described one of the videos directly. "One of these videos included a JCB demolishing the entire mosque, which was completely false," Sharma said, as quoted by News18. No such demolition took place. Only the portion inside the road alignment was ever slated for removal, and members of the mosque committee carried out that limited work themselves after reaching an agreement with the municipal corporation.

Thousands of people gathered outside the mosque on the night before the clash, Moneycontrol reported. When removal work began the next morning, stones were thrown at security personnel, and police responded with tear gas and a lathi charge to disperse the crowd. Around 2,500 security personnel, including Rapid Action Force units, had been deployed to the site.

What police are investigating

Police are now tracing where the videos originated and how they spread. More than 100 Instagram accounts have been flagged in the investigation, Moneycontrol reported. News9Live put the case count at eight FIRs registered against 20 people across three police stations, with five of those named as content creators. News18's account of the same police briefing quoted Sharma citing five FIRs, a lower figure that has not been reconciled with the other reporting. At least 15 people were detained after the clash, according to News9Live.

The episode adds Ujjain to a growing list of incidents in which police say fabricated AI video, not the underlying event, mobilized a crowd. For creators, the case is a reminder that a clip built to provoke does not need to be well made or widely viewed to have real consequences once it starts moving through group chats and short-video feeds faster than a correction can follow.

The investigation into who made and first posted the videos was continuing as of September 29, with police monitoring social media for further circulation.