Rajasthan man arrested for Tamil Nadu chief minister Vijay’s deepfake videos

Cases were registered after deepfake videos of Vijay with Hindi audio emerged on social media platforms last month

A 28-year-old man from Rajasthan’s Alwar has been arrested for allegedly creating and circulating deepfake videos of Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay on social media.

Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay. (PTI)

Two Tamil Nadu Police Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) teams carried out searches in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh before zeroing in on and arresting Shyabu Khan, a resident of Boontoli in Alwar, on Saturday. They seized his mobile phones, SIM Cards and CPUs. Khan was brought back to Chennai and remanded to judicial custody.

A CB-CID officer said such videos were shared on purportedly Pakistan-based Facebook accounts. A probe was underway to identify the foreign perpetrators despite the operational challenges, the officer added.

Deep Dive

What charges are being brought against the Rajasthan man who created deepfake videos of the Tamil Nadu chief minister?

Why are deepfake videos considered a legal issue in the context of public figures?

How is the Tamil Nadu police investigating the network behind the deepfake videos?

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Tamil Nadu Police chief Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal said the CB-CID conducted an advanced technical analysis and arrested the accused despite challenges. He added the CB-CID was investigating whether Khan acted alone or was part of a wider network.

The CB-CID said cases were registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act after deepfake videos of Vijay with Hindi audio emerged on Facebook and other social media platforms last month.

Initial investigations showed that the suspects used these videos to cheat people across Madhya Pradesh and other states. The CB-CID requested Facebook to take down the videos.