The police team probing the morphing case related to a college in Ernakulam district, Keralam, has questioned more people, including former students of the institution, according to sources associated with the investigation.

The police said they were investigating whether the student, who has been arrested for allegedly morphing the images of at least three college staff members, including teachers, and circulating them online, received help from others in committing the crime. The accused, Sreehari V.S., a second-year BBA student from Kilimanoor in Thiruvananthapuram, was remanded on Friday.

“We have questioned more people, but nobody has been taken into custody yet. More scientific investigation needs to be carried out into the gadgets allegedly used for morphing and circulating the images,” a senior officer said.

He said the AI tool suspected to have been used to generate the images was not found on the laptop and mobile phone seized from the accused. The police suspect the tool was deleted before they could seize the gadgets. It is also suspected that the accused posted the images mainly in two Telegram channels.

The officer said the police have not found any evidence of financial gain from the crime so far. They have also ruled out the misuse of photos of other students, based on the preliminary investigation.

Cyber experts in probe team

The investigation team has been expanded to include cyber experts. ACP C.K. Bijoy Chandran is supervising the investigation, which is headed by Inspector S. Sanal.

The college principal, in a statement, urged students and alumni of the college to share any information related to the case with the police.