It's controversial/ Rashmika Mandanna Reacts After Arrest Of Main Accused In Deepfake Video Case, Talks About Consent

Delhi Police on Saturday arrested a B-Tech graduate from Andhra Pradesh in connection with a deepfake video of actor Rashmika Mandanna that was widely circulated on social media. The accused identified as 23-year-old Eemani Naveen, a native of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, had created the video to increase the followers on his fan page of Rashmika Mandanna on Instagram, an official said.

After the arrest, Rashmika shared a note on social media expressing her gratitude to the Police.

Rashmika's message to people on morphed images

"Expressing my heartfelt gratitude to Delhi Police. Thank you for apprehending those responsible. Feeling truly grateful for the community that embraces me with love, support and shields me. Girls and boys if your image is morphed anywhere without your consent. It is wrong. And I hope this a reminder that you are surrounded by people who will support you and action will be taken (sic)," the Animal actress wrote on social media. 

Video creator wanted to increase followers

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), IFSO, Dr Hemant Tiwari, said that accused Eemani Naveen created the deepfake video of Rashmika Mandanna just to increase the followers and posted it on the fan page on October 13. He had used the AI (artificial intelligence) technique with the help of Youtube to make the video, he added.

The DCP said that the fan following of this page increased from 90,000 to 1,08000 within two weeks due to the deepfake video.

When Naveen later realised that it became a national sensation and also saw tweets from famous film stars against the said deepfake video, he got scared and deleted the said posts from the Instagram Channel and also changed the name of Insta channel, he added.

Meanwhile, the police officer said that more than 500 social media accounts related to the alleged deepfake videos were analysed during the investigation.

(With PTI inputs)