Bangladeshi media used AI‑generated photo in reports on arrest of Hadi murder suspects
Indian police have arrested Faisal Karim Masud, the prime accused in the killing of Inquilab Moncho spokesperson Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, along with his associate Alamgir Hossain. The arrests were announced in a press release issued by the West Bengal Special Task Force (STF) on March 8.
However, in covering the news, several Bangladeshi media outlets used an image depicting the suspects in custody that was actually generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
On March 8, the daily Jugantor published a report titled “How Faisal Was Arrested in India, the Border Through Which He Fled.” The report states, “The main accused in the killing of Inquilab Moncho spokesperson Sharif Osman Bin Hadi — shooter Faisal Karim Masud — and his associate Alamgir have been arrested in West Bengal, India.”
The photo used in the report, captioned “Shooter Faisal Karim Masud (right) and his associate Alamgir. Photo: Jugantor,” was in fact AI‑generated.
The same photo appeared the next day, March 9, in a report by daily Inqilab, where it was partially cropped and used under the headline “Hadi Murder Prime Accused Faisal–Alamgir Arrested in India.”
Online outlet Dhaka Mail also used the photo with the caption: “West Bengal police escort Hadi murder suspects Faisal and Alamgir to court in handcuffs.” The accompanying article stated that both men had been placed on a 14‑day remand by the West Bengal STF. In the image as used by Dhaka Mail, one suspect’s hand is circled in red ink.
ATN Bangla published a report titled “Faisal and Alamgir, Prime Accused in Hadi Murder, Arrested in India; Dhaka Handover Process Begins,” also using the same image with the suspect’s hand circled in red.
Dhaka Prokash ran the photo under a “Collected” caption, while Manab Kantha used it in a report titled “How Shooter Faisal Karim Was Arrested in India.” Radio Barta and Daily Sun also used the image. Online outlet MT News included the AI‑generated image alongside several others in its coverage.
Print media also published the AI image. The March 9 print edition of Samakal featured the photo on its front page in a report titled “Hadi Murder Suspects Arrested in India, Being Brought to Dhaka.” The same day, Janakantha and Jugantor again used the image in print, labeling it “Collected.” Daily Sun used it as well.
To verify whether the image was AI‑generated, Dismislab tested it using Google Gemini’s SynthID AI‑detection tool. The analysis confirmed that the photo had been created using Google’s AI model. SynthID detected a watermark embedded in the image, indicating AI generation, and marked its confidence level as “high.”
To further illustrate its findings, SynthID generated a heat map showing large blue overlays across the middle and upper sections of the photo — visual markers identifying AI‑generated content.
The Milner Library at Illinois State University’s “Evaluating Reliability” guidelines state that before using images in research, reporting, or presentations, it is crucial to evaluate their credibility. Images should be assessed just like journal articles, books, or any other source — examining the accompanying text, the origin of the image, its original context, and its technical integrity.
In this case, the image circulated by multiple Bangladeshi media outlets failed those criteria. It was an AI‑generated fabrication.
