Bid to sell minor’s fake video on dark web

Kolkata: An FIR was registered at Hatishala Police Station on Thursday after an unknown person allegedly created a Facebook account using the photograph of a minor girl, and circulated morphed content, including a video that was to be sold on the dark web, police said.Cops have launched a probe to to identify the operator of the Facebook account and trace the origin and circulation of the allegedly manipulated images and video. "We are writing to the Meta authorities for leads," said an officer.
The complainant, the girl's elder brother, alleged that the account was used to post and circulate multiple images in which a female body was shown with the minor's face digitally superimposed. The complaint stated the video was intended for commercial use.The complainant further claimed that the accused had an IT background and said that people connected to his and his sister's previous workplaces or educational institutes might be involved.Police invoked provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The sections included in the FIR were Section 66(c) of the IT Act, Section 67(b) of the IT Act, read with Section 14 of the Pocso Act, 2012.Investigators are expected to seek platform-related data, including account registration details, login history, IP logs and linked identifiers, and to map the dissemination trail of the content across online channels. Police said efforts are also being made to determine whether any financial transactions were involved in the alleged sale of the video .