VBIT photo morphing case: Ghatkesar police arrest 4 youths for harassing students

Hyderabad: Four persons were arrested by the Ghatkesar police on Saturday for cyberstalking girls studying at the Vignana Bharathi Institute of Technology.

A case has been registered against them under sections 354 (D), 509, and 469 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 67 and 67 (A) of the IT Act, said Rachakonda CP D.S Chauhan.

The four persons—Choppara Laxmi Ganesh (19) from Guntur, Meda Pradeep alias Pethuru (19) from Guntur; Balam Sathish (20) from Vijayawada, and Chavala Durga Prasad (19) from Vijayawada—were arrested at around 6 a.m on Saturday from the Ghatkesar bus stand.

What is the VBIT stalking case?

The issue began when a first-year engineering student received a call in November 2022 from a stranger. The two then started talking. But later, when the girl stopped texting and receiving his calls, the man began sending messages and calling her from other numbers, but she ignored them. Soon, the man acquired the numbers of other girls in the college and started texting them, sending them morphed photos, and threatening them.

On 4 January, at 8:40 p.m, Danda Hemanth Reddy, the warden of VBIT college hostel, submitted a complaint to the Ghatkesar police stating that from 9 November 2022, the students of VBIT have been receiving calls and messages from unknown numbers and are being abused. The perpetrators also used WhatsApp and Instagram to harass the students. They threatened the girls and forced them to talk to them, shared locations, and asked the girls to come to that place. They threatened to post their photos on social media if they refused. When the students blocked the numbers, they started calling them from other numbers.

Based on the warden's complaint, a case was registered.

WhatsApp groups

According to the police, one of the accused, Laxmi Ganesh, while browsing Instagram and WhatsApp, found the VBIT students' profiles and their contact numbers. He shared them with Pradeep, Balam Sathish, and Chavala Durga Prasad and they started sending messages to the girls.

Laxmi Ganesh created three WhatsApp groups and Pradeep created one. Through these groups, the four youths harassed the girls.