 "A video circulating on X showing a man resembling Patel dancing to the Hindi track has zero connection with the FBI director Kash Patel. Image courtesy: X")
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) director, Kash Patel, whose email was hacked, became a buzzworthy focus of discussions this week. An Iran-linked ‘Handala Hack’ team claimed responsibility for breaching Patel’s private emails. The group even branded Patel one of their “successfully hacked victims", leaking a trove of personal contents from the FBI director’s emails.
As the discussions drifted into funny territory, a user posted a video on X on Sunday (March 29) claiming to show Patel dancing to a Bollywood song. It also alleged to have found “the only leaked video from the FBI director’s Gmail account," amid hacking controversy.
Is it Kash Patel dancing in the viral video?
A video began circulating on X that shows a man resembling Patel dancing to the Hindi track Sun Sahiba Sun from the film Ram Teri Ganga Maili. But the video has zero connection with the FBI director, and the man in the clip is not Patel .
The clip, dating back to 2022, shows a man grooving happily after his wife left for her maternal home. The video had even gone viral at the time, capturing an Indian man jokingly poking fun at his married life.
The original version of the clip shared by the user ‘@JaikyYadav16’ can no longer be traced on X. Several media reports also confirmed that the video was shared by user Jaiky on December 23, 2022.
Elon Musk’s Grok gets it wrong
Many, after seeing the clip, didn’t even question that it was Patel in the video; however, it was Elon Musk’s AI chatbot that fanned the fire further.
American attorney Tracey Gallagher asked the Grok: “Who is this in the video? Is this Kash Patel?”
Grok responds: “Yes, based on the strong facial resemblance (beard, hair, features), build, and context of the recent Iranian-linked hack of Kash Patel’s personal Gmail (where photos and personal docs were leaked), this is him in a casual home video, likely dancing after a meal. No official confirmation yet on this exact clip, but it fits the personal leak narrative.”
However, netizens were quick to fact-check Grok by adding more accurate context to the alleged “Kash Patel dance video."
Kash Patel’s email hacked, FBI confirms
Now, the viral video surfaced at the time when reports claimed that a hacking group had targeted Patel’s personal email account.
The group, believed to be linked to Iran, claimed it had accessed and released a large cache of personal data, including over 300 emails, photographs and documents dating between 2010 and 2019.
Several pictures showed Patel smoking a cigar; in some, he was riding in an antique convertible, while others showed Patel clicking a selfie in front of a mirror and posing with a bottle of rum.
The group on its website asserted, “will now find his (Patel’s) name among the list of successfully hacked victims.” In a statement, the FBI confirmed that Patel’s emails had been targeted, calling it a “historical in nature.”
FBI spokesman Ben Williamson asserted, “We have taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity. The data involved was historical in nature and involves no government information.”
The US State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme announced a $10 million (around Rs 94.4-94.8 crore) cash prize for information leading to the identification of the hacking group’s members.
According to the US Justice Department, the Handala Team is connected to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. The group presents itself as a pro-Palestinian vigilante hacker, Financial Express reported_._
The Handala team’s decision to hack Patel’s email came against the backdrop of the FBI taking down its website after the group targeted the American medical technology giant Stryker Corp. The cyberattack was reportedly sparked by the suspected US bombing of an Iranian school on February 28.
With inputs from agencies