Actor’s social media accounts hacked; Karnataka man booked

The Oshiwara police arrested a 21-year-old man from Hubli in Karnataka and served notice to two minors for allegedly hacking the social media accounts of actor Karan Dhir. The accused claimed Bollywood actor and fitness entrepreneur Sahil Khan had hired them to hack Dhir’s account. Khan has denied the allegations.

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However, Oshiwara police are investigating the claim made by the accused. “I am not aware of any such case,” Khan said.

A case was registered under sections 66 (c) (theft of identity) and 67 (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology ActThe 21-year-old was later released on bail. According to police, the hacker had sent lewd messages to Dhir’s friend, and changed the passwords of Dhir’s social media and email accounts.

Following this, an unknown person sent a message to Dhir demanding money in exchange for restoring his accounts and shared his bank account details.

“We traced the bank holder, Prashant Bankapur, 21, to Karnataka and on December 14, a team was dispatched. He led the police to two 17-year-old boys involved in the crime,” a police officer said.

He added, “One of the minors claimed Sahil Khan had asked him to hack Dhir’s account and assured him a good pay. We are verifying the role of Khan and others named by the accused.”