Deepfake of Rashmika Mandanna: Creator of video arrested, says Delhi Police

Rashmika Mandanna. File pic

Delhi Police on Saturday said that it has arrested a man in connection with a deepfake video of actor Rashmika Mandanna that was widely circulated on social media, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, the accused, who is suspected to be the creator of the video, was arrested from south India and has been brought to Delhi, an official said, adding that he was being interrogated.

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On November 10, an FIR was registered under Indian Penal Code sections 465 (punishment for forgery) and 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) and sections 66C and 66E of the Information Technology Act at the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) Unit of the Delhi Police's Special Cell, as per the PTI.

Soon after registering the FIR, the IFSO Unit wrote to Meta to get the URL and other details to identify the accused who made the video and put it on the social media, officials added.

Earlier, a video that showed a social media influence's face replaced with Rashmika Mandanna's face getting into a lift while wearing a fitted outfit had gone viral on several social media platforms. Later, a journalist had shared a video and said that the video was fake.

"There is an urgent need for a legal and regulatory framework to deal with deepfake in India. You might have seen this viral video of actress Rashmika Mandanna on Instagram. But wait, this is a deepfake video of Zara Patel," he had written on X.

Later, the actress herself had reacted to the clip and shared a statement. She had written, "I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online. Something like this is honestly, extremely scary not only for me, but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused. Today, as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends and well-wishers who are my protection and support system. But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can't imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft."

(with PTI inputs)