Assam engineer creates AI-generated porn of former classmate, earns Rs 10 lakh; arrested

A 30-year-old mechanical engineer has been arrested in Assam for allegedly using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to create and circulate morphed pornographic content featuring a woman he once studied with, police revealed on Sunday. The accused, Pratim Bora, reportedly earned nearly Rs 10 lakh by monetising the fabricated material before being tracked down by Dibrugarh police.

The victim, a married woman in her 30s, filed a complaint on Saturday after discovering that manipulated images and videos of her were being shared online. The case gained attention last week when a doctored photo of her with an adult film actor was posted on Instagram, falsely claiming she had entered the industry, The Indian Express reported.

According to Dibrugarh SSP (in-charge) Sizal Agarwal, Bora initially created the content to harass the woman due to "personal reasons" but later set up a subscription-based model to profit from it. "He created a webpage on Linktree and gave a link to view pornographic content...there was a subscription system. He got money from the subscription. So as the crime continued, he began earning and got almost Rs 10 lakh from the whole process," Agarwal was quoted by The Indian Express as saying.

Police traced Bora through the Instagram account mentioned in the complaint, which had amassed over a million followers. "We found a contact number linked to the profile, which led us to the accused. The victim confirmed they had studied together between 2013 and 2017," Agarwal said, as quoted by IndiaTV.

Authorities seized multiple devices, including a laptop, mobile phones, a hard disk and SIM cards. Investigators suspect Bora used AI platforms like OpenArt and Midjourney to generate the explicit material. The police are reportedly examining how many fake profiles he created and the methods used.

The manipulated content dates back to 2022 but gained traction recently when the fake photo with the adult film star was uploaded on July 2.

Agarwal cautioned users against sharing unverified content. The accused has been charged under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for sexual harassment, defamation and circulating obscene material.