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High reported severity Criminal Charges

Chennai: police say a man used AI to make obscene images of a woman colleague and posted them from a fake Instagram account tagged with her home location

Police in the Chennai area arrested a man in early May 2026 who, according to their investigation as reported by the Times of India, DT Next and Daily Thanthi, used AI to turn a woman colleague's display pictures into obscene images and videos, posted them from a fake Instagram account in her name, and tagged the posts with her home location. A friend alerted the woman to the account; she complained to an all-women police station, and police traced the posts to a colleague's phone. Daily Thanthi reports that he admitted under questioning to making the images with AI after a workplace dispute. DT Next reports that the account and posts were blocked and that he was remanded in judicial custody. The AI tool is not identified, and the date the posts began is not reported.

AI system
Unidentified image and video tool
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
7 May 2026
Event location
India
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or AbusePsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Work · Privacy · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 1 underlying account
5 claims: 5 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: AI technology used to morph the woman's display pictures into obscene images and videos, according to the police investigation as reported by the Times of India, DT Next and Daily Thanthi (tool not identified)

What Happened

How it came to light. According to the police, as reported by the Times of India on 8 May 2026, a friend alerted the woman to explicit posts being shared from a fake Instagram account created in her name. DT Next (7 May) reports that the account featured morphed obscene photos of her, a link to her home location and a message suggesting that anyone interested could approach her, and that she was shocked when she saw the posts on her friend's phone.

What the police found. She complained to an all-women police station, and police traced the posts, with the cyber crime branch's help according to DT Next, to the phone of a colleague at the same company. The Times of India reports that investigations found he had sought revenge over workplace conflicts, downloaded her display pictures and created intimate images and videos using AI before circulating them from the fake profile. DT Next and Daily Thanthi describe the pictures as her WhatsApp display pictures; Daily Thanthi reports that under police questioning he admitted making and posting the morphed photos and videos with AI technology after a dispute at work.

Charges. Police arrested him and registered charges including offences against women, misuse of social media, and the creation and circulation of obscene content. DT Next reports that he was remanded in judicial custody and that the woman's quick complaint helped block the account and posts.

What is not established. The AI tool is not named, and how widely the posts were seen before they were blocked is not reported. The date the posts began is not stated; DT Next dates the arrest to the night before its 7 May 2026 report. The three reports relay one police account.

Reported harm

According to the police account reported by the Times of India, DT Next and Daily Thanthi, a man used AI to make obscene images and videos of a woman colleague and posted them from a fake Instagram account in her name, with her home location and, per DT Next, a message suggesting that anyone interested could approach her; DT Next reports she was shocked on seeing the posts.

Outcome

Ongoing

Police arrested the man and registered charges including offences against women, misuse of social media and the creation and circulation of obscene content (Times of India; DT Next). DT Next reports that he was produced in court and remanded in judicial custody and that the account and posts were blocked. No trial outcome is reported.

What remains unknown

  • Which AI tool was used.
  • When the posts began and how long the account was live before it was blocked.
  • How many people saw or shared the posts.
  • The outcome of the criminal case.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The investigating police's account, as reported by the Times of India ('created intimate images and videos using AI'), DT Next ('used AI technology to morph her WhatsApp display pictures into obscene images and videos') and Daily Thanthi, says the colleague used AI to produce the images and videos; Daily Thanthi reports that he admitted this under police questioning. The generated images depict the woman and were posted from an account impersonating her (depicted_or_impersonated). The tool is not named.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported According to the police investigation, a colleague of the woman used AI to turn her display pictures into obscene images and videos and posted them from a fake Instagram account created in her name.

Causal attribution. Police account as relayed by two outlets; the AI generation is the investigation's finding, tool not named.

  • timesofindia.indiatimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    According to police, the issue came to light when the woman's friend alerted her about explicit posts being shared from a fake Instagram account created in her name. ... He downloaded the woman's display pictures from social media, and created intimate images and videos using AI, and created a fake Instagram profile to circulate them.
  • dtnext.in(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Seeking revenge, he used AI technology to morph her WhatsApp display pictures into obscene images and videos. He then created a fake Instagram account in her name, posted the morphed content, and even shared her home location link.
Reported The posts were tagged with her home location; DT Next reports they carried a message suggesting that anyone interested could approach her.

Causal attribution. Police account as relayed; the message detail is DT Next's alone.

Reported Daily Thanthi reports that under police questioning the man admitted that, angered by a problem at work, he took her WhatsApp display pictures and used AI technology to morph them obscenely into photos and videos and posted them.

Causal attribution. The suspect's admission as reported from the police account.

  • dailythanthi.com(opens in new tab) supports · Tamil
    அலுவலகத்தில் ஏற்பட்ட பிரச்சினையால் ஆத்திரமடைந்து, அந்த பெண் வாட்ஸ்அப்பில் வைத்திருந்த டி.பி. புகைப்படங்களை எடுத்து, ஏ.ஐ. தொழில்நுட்பம் மூலம் அவர்கள் இருவரும் சேர்ந்து இருப்பதுபோல் ஆபாசமாக மார்பிங் செய்து புகைப்படங்கள் மற்றும் வீடியோக்களை உருவாக்கி வெளியிட்டதாக ஒப்புக்கொண்டார்.
Reported She was shocked on seeing the posts on her friend's phone and complained to the police; her quick complaint helped block the account and posts.

Causal attribution. DT Next's account.

  • dtnext.in(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Shocked, the woman checked her friend’s phone and confirmed the posts. ... her swift police complaint helped block the account and posts.
Reported Police arrested him and registered charges including offences against women, misuse of social media and the creation and circulation of obscene content; DT Next reports he was remanded in judicial custody.

Causal attribution. Police account as relayed.

  • timesofindia.indiatimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The police arrested the accused and registered multiple charges, including offences related to crimes against women, misuse of social media, and creation and circulation of obscene content.
  • dtnext.in(opens in new tab) supports · English
    produced him in court, where he was remanded to judicial custody.

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

English-language source; no translation. Read on 2026-10-19 (HTTP 200). Times of India Chennai report, 8 May 2026, attributing the account to police. Applies to s1.

English-language source; no translation. Read on 2026-10-19 (HTTP 200). DT Next report, 7 May 2026, relaying the police investigation. Applies to s2.

Read in Tamil on 2026-10-19 (HTTP 200); the quoted passage is kept in Tamil and its English sense was rendered by the research agent (an AI), not a human translator. Daily Thanthi report, 9 May 2026; Daily Thanthi and DT Next belong to the same newspaper group and both relay the police account. Applies to s3.

Event countries: India. Affected-person countries: India. Court countries: India.

Event: the woman lives and works in the Chennai area, Tamil Nadu, and complained to an all-women police station there (Times of India, DT Next, Daily Thanthi). DT Next reports he was produced in court and remanded.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-19: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): the investigating police, as reported by the Times of India, DT Next and Daily Thanthi, say a colleague used AI to make obscene images and videos of the woman and posted them from a fake account in her name with her home location, and Daily Thanthi reports his admission under questioning. The three reports relay one police account. The woman is not named.

People described

A married woman who works at an IT company in the Chennai area; a colleague's AI-made obscene images of her were posted from a fake Instagram account in her name with her home location. She is not named in any source.

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One woman, depicted in the images and impersonated by the fake account (Times of India, DT Next, Daily Thanthi). No other person is reported harmed.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#ai-generated-images#non-consensual-intimate-images#impersonation#fake-account#instagram#workplace#india#arrest

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Chennai: police say a man used AI to make obscene images of a woman colleague and posted them from a fake Instagram account tagged with her home location. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-chennai-police-say-man-used-ai-to-make-obscene-images-of-colleague-posted-from-fake-instagram-account

BibTeX

@misc{2026_chennai_police_say_man_used_ai_to_make_obscene_images_of_colleague_posted_from_fake_instagram_account,
  title = {Chennai: police say a man used AI to make obscene images of a woman colleague and posted them from a fake Instagram account tagged with her home location},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-chennai-police-say-man-used-ai-to-make-obscene-images-of-colleague-posted-from-fake-instagram-account}
}

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