New Delhi: Delhi Police have arrested a 24-year-old BTech graduate from Andhra Pradesh for allegedly creating the Rashmika Mandanna deepfake video that went viral last year.
Police said the accused, Eemani Naveen, is a native of Pedanandipadu, Guntur, and made the deepfake to increase the followers of a Rashmika Mandanna fanpage he ran on social media.
Deceptive content created with the help of AI is known as deepfake. In the viral Mandanna video, the actor’s face was superimposed on that of British-Indian social media personality Zara Patel, seen entering a lift in a revealing onesie
“During the preliminary analysis it was found that the original video was uploaded by a British Indian girl on her Instagram account in October 2023 and, later on, deepfake video of a noted film actress was created and circulated on various social media platforms,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations) Hemant Tiwari said.
After the video went viral, Delhi Police filed an FIR under IPC sections 465 (forgery) and 469 (harming reputation), and sections 66C (identity theft) and 66E (privacy violation) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Delhi Police said Naveen holds a Btech in Electronics and Communication, and completed certification in digital marketing from Google Digital Garage, the online learning platform, in 2019. He works from home providing services such as Photoshop, Instagram channel promotion, YouTube video creation and editing and search engine optimisation.
The probe
As part of the probe, 500 social media accounts were analysed, police said, adding that several people found sharing the video were also questioned.
“After the deep analysis and interrogation of suspected persons, finally the account… was traced on Instagram,” Tiwari said, adding that while the original video was posted on 9 October 2023, the deepfake surfaced on 13 October.
Naveen, police said, ran three fan pages of celebrities, including one of Mandanna. “To increase followers, he created a deepfake video of the actor. Due to this deepfake video, the fan following of this page increased from 90,000 to 1,08,000 within two weeks,” Tiwari said.
After the issue garnered national attention — including from the actor herself — Naveen allegedly deleted the post from Instagram and changed the handle name as well.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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