IIT student arrested after posting morphed pictures of 50 female students and teachers

A 19-year-old engineering student from IIT Kharagpur was arrested for stalking and harassing over 50 female students and teachers of a reputed Delhi school. He allegedly uploaded the women’s morphed pictures on social media through fake accounts that he had created on Instagram.

The student, identified as Mahavir Kumar, hails from Bihar’s Patna. The incident came to light when a phone number registered in the US had entered the WhatsApp group of the school’s class 11 and class 12 students without the respective group admins’ authorization. “During initial investigation questioning of the teachers, students and their parents helped us identify 33 WhatsApp virtual numbers, five Instagram profiles and various calls made using fake caller ID apps. Details related to the user of these social media IDs were sought from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Following the shared details of the IP logs of these IDs used for creating fake social media accounts, we finally identified the user as one Mahavir Kumar. His location was traced to Patna in Bihar,” the DCP was quoted as saying by a news agency.

The officer reportedly added, “He confessed to having used voice changing apps to contact victims to hide his identity. He even used the app for creating morphed nude photos of the students and uploaded them on fake Instagram profiles created in their names. Several obscene videos and photographs have also been recovered from his mobile phone.” The accused has been booked under IPC section 345D for stalking, sections of POCSO Act and the Information Technology Act.