1,500 images of classmates allegedly morphed into nudes; BTech student held

KOTTAYAM: A BTech student was taken into custody following a complaint alleging that he hacked a female classmate's Instagram account and morphed photographs into nude images. The student, identified as Ajmal T. Muhammed, is a fourth-year Electronics and Communication student at a private engineering college in Ettumanoor. Photographs of the complainant and other classmates were allegedly kept secretly on his mobile phone and laptop. His friends discovered the photographs on the afternoon of the 3rd when they took his laptop for project work. The matter was subsequently reported to the Ettumanoor police.

Photographs taken during college programmes and celebrations had allegedly been morphed into nude images. Police also found that the images had been stored in a hidden folder on Ajmal's mobile phone.
In her complaint, the student alleged that the privacy of her Instagram account had been violated and that she and her friends had suffered humiliation and mental distress.
Police said further action would be taken after a detailed examination of the student's mobile phone and laptop.

Around 1,500 images

Preliminary information suggests that around 1,500 images had been morphed. AI and deepfake technology were used to edit the images.
Ajmal took photographs during college celebrations. This was also a reason for the police to decide to subject the laptop to further examination.
Police said the images had not been sold through apps such as Telegram.
There was also an allegation of an attempt to hush up the case.