Kozhikode: Ahmedabad-based Kaushal Shah, accused in the Deepfake ID scam case, will spend more time behind bars after the Chief Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kozhikode extended his remand period for 14 days.
The man from Usmanpura in Gujarat, who was incarcerated in Tihar Jail in a similar case, was produced before the court here at the request of the Kozhikode City Cyber Police.
The court allowed City Cyber Police to question him for two-and-a-half hours on Wednesday on the court premises and later from January 26 to 29 at the Tihar Jail in Delhi.
His bail plea will be considered on Thursday by the court, said Adv. Mujeeb Rahman, who represents the accused.
Shah and three others were arrested for swindling Rs 40,000 from 74-year-old Radhakrishnan, a retired central government officer at Palazhi in Kozhikode, using deepfake technology on July 2023. This was the first case of money extortion in the country using AI technology. The main accused in the case is Shaikh Murthu Samiya Hayath, who is also imprisoned in Tihar Jail, police said.
“The accused is already in jail in a similar case registered by the Delhi Police, in which they have invoked IPC section 420-66E and 66D of the Information Technology Act. So the Kozhikode police recorded his arrest online 14 days ago and produced him before the CJM court online and the court remanded him. Now the police produced him physically before the court and the remand period was extended,” said Adv. Mujeeb Rahman to Onmanorama.
As per the case, the culprits asked for money using Radhakrishnan's former colleague Venu's image and sound generated by AI.
In the video call, which lasted only a few seconds, the friend from Andhra said that his sister-in-law was in a hospital in Mumbai and he needed Rs 40,000 for emergency surgery. Radhakrishnan sent the money via Google Pay after his 'friend' told him that he was in the US and would return the money as soon as he reached Mumbai.
Later Radhakrishnan felt something fishy when the same 'friend' asked for more money. He called his friend and found out that he was duped. He filed a complaint with the Kozhikode Cyber Police. The accused and his accomplices are experts in creating fake accounts in various banks using fake documents and mobile phone numbers, police sources said. When they were arrested, police found them using numerous mobile phones with SIM cards obtained in the names of unknown villagers.
