The producer of Rashmika Mandanna’s deepfake video stated that he is a tremendous fan of the actor and created the film to acquire followers for his Rashmika fan page.
Eemani Naveen’s Instagram followers increased from 90,000 to 1,08000 in two weeks after he shared a deepfake video of star Rashmika Mandanna on a fan page he manages. The 23-year-old Guntur man who was detained after two months of researching the Rashmika Mandanna deepfake case stated that he intended to boost the number of followers on the page. However, as the video drew the attention of celebrities and film industry heavyweights, including Amitabh Bachchan, who criticized it, Naveen became afraid, deleted the video, and changed the name of his Instagram channel. According to police, at least 500 social media profiles have been examined in the previous two months as part of the investigation. So far, detectives have interviewed people who shared the video but were unable to locate the original originator.
Soon after the FIR was filed in the case on November 10, the Delhi Police contacted Meta to obtain the URL and other information in order to identify the culprit who created the video and shared it on social media. Meanwhile, Naveen deleted all digital files from his devices.
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How Delhi Police traced the inventor of deepfakes to Guntur.
Naveen’s account was located on Instagram following a thorough examination of 500 social media profiles that posted the deepfake and the interrogation of every suspect. Under the direction of ACP Manoj Kumar, a team including Inspector Hansraj Swami and Sub-Inspector Kapil Yaduvanshi was dispatched to Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, where they found Naveen at his residence.
During his questioning, Naveen admitted to the police that he maintains a fan page and is a major Rashmika Mandanna enthusiast. In addition, he manages two additional actors’ fan pages.
In what way was the deepfake made?
Artificial intelligence was used, according to the police, to generate the deepface. When Naveen was making the deepfake, he used YouTube videos as assistance. Naveen was skilled at this, and while studying a B-Tech in 2019, he finished his certification in digital marketing from Google Garage. Additionally, he finished classes from YouTube and other sources in website construction, Photoshop, and video editing.
In March 2023, he went back to his hometown and began working from home, charging for Photoshop, Instagram channel marketing, YouTube video production, editing, and search engine optimization services, according to PTI.