Rahul Bharti - AI Deepfake Sextortion Death (India)

Rahul Bharti, a 19-year-old DAV college student from Faridabad, Haryana, India, died by suicide on October 25, 2025.

For approximately two weeks before his death, Bharti had been receiving AI-generated nude photographs and videos of himself and his three sisters. The perpetrators had hacked his phone to obtain the original photographs, then used AI deepfake tools to create explicit imagery.

The blackmailers demanded Rs 20,000 (approximately $240 USD) and threatened to release the content on social media. When Bharti could not pay, the perpetrators reportedly taunted him and told him to kill himself, naming specific substances and methods.

Bharti consumed sulpha tablets and was taken to hospital, where he died during treatment.

• AI deepfake tools used to generate non-consensual nude imagery of the victim and his sisters from stolen photographs
• Generated content was realistic enough to serve as effective blackmail material
• Tools accessible to perpetrators without apparent safeguards against generating non-consensual intimate imagery

AI deepfake tools enabled the creation of convincing non-consensual nude imagery from stolen photographs. This AI-generated content became the weapon for a sextortion campaign that combined financial extortion, threats of public humiliation, and direct incitement to suicide. The victim's distress was compounded by the images targeting not only himself but also his three sisters.

The availability and ease of use of AI nudification tools lowered the barrier for this type of image-based sexual abuse.

Two suspects booked under abetment to suicide charges following police investigation. The perpetrators had hacked Bharti's phone to obtain photographs of him and his sisters, then used AI tools to generate nude images for blackmail.