Guwahati: Youth arrested for posting morphed photos of college students on social media

Guwahati, April 25: Deepfake and morphed photographs are some of the major concerns about women's safety in the country. One such incident came to light following the arrest of a youth who posted morphed photographs of a few college students in Guwahati on social media to blackmail them.

The incident unfolded on September 28, 2023, when a complaint was filed at the Cyber Police Station alleging that the accused, who identified himself as Nabajit Nath and Nabajit Talukdar from different phone numbers, was making unsolicited phone calls and sending some vulgar messages as well as some obscenely morphed photographs to the complainant and a few of her friends.

According to the complainant, the accused identified himself as Nabajit Nath and Nabajit Talukdar on social media platforms and got acquainted with one of the victims. He established a close relationship with the victim by claiming that he worked at a company.

When the victim realised that the accused was faking the details of his life and was not even sufficiently educated, she disconnected all communication with the accused. Following this, the accused got revengeful and threatened the complainant with dire consequences if the communication was not resumed.

When the complainant and her few friends took a stand and rebuked, the accused planned to morph the photographs into nude pictures and blackmail them by demanding illegal and unacceptable favours from the victims. 

The complainant then filed a case No. 09/2023 under Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) R/W Section 67-A/67-B of the Information Technology Act, 2000, at the Cyber Police Station.

During the investigation, the accused did not disclose his real religious identity and took up a Hindu name to establish communication with the complainant. It was further revealed that the accused person is not even matriculated, and he was working in Bangalore as a security guard in a private establishment.

Based on technical analysis, the police cracked the case, and he has been identified as Billal Hussain (22), a resident of Dhula in Darrang district.

The police informed that the accused was arrested in Dhula, and he admitted to his crime during interrogation. The police also recovered his mobile phone along with SIM cards used in the commission of the crime.

Billal was then produced before a court and sent to police custody for five days.