Firm generating morphed images of politicians hired by Cong: Cybercrime cops

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad cybercrime police investigating the cases of videos with morphed images of prominent politicians and public representatives have found that the firm that generated them had a contract with the Congress, and had been receiving payments from the party. It was s not clear if the Congress was are aware of the content generated by the firm, police said.

They said that Sunil Kanugolu was found to be associated with the Congress, but the Mindshare United Foundation office from where they were operating did not have details of any Congress leaders.

The laptops and mobile phones seized from the firm's office at Madhapur on Tuesday night have been sent for forensic examination. Once they are examined, more details about the accused running any channels on social media platforms concealing their identity and what type of content they are generating would be known. Accordingly, further investigation would follow, police said.

Meanwhile, it was found that the three persons Sri Pratap Manda, Ishan Sharma and Shashank Thatineni, to whom notices were served in connection with the case, have several others working under them. Police said it is being verified if any more people were involved in the videos on which cases have been registered.