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The Kerala police registered a case against a senior Congress leader from Kozhikode for allegedly sharing an AI-generated image of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Unnikrishnan Potti, the key accused in the Sabarimala gold misappropriation case. The Chevayoor police booked N Subrahmanian, a member of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Political Affairs Committee, on Thursday, December 25.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), Subrahmanian shared an image of Pinarayi and Potti with the caption, ‘What could be the reason for such a deep relationship between Pinarayi and Unnikrishnan Potti?’ The FIR stated that the post aimed to create political hatred between two societal groups and incite a riot. The post was shared on Facebook on December 25, around 1 pm.
Police took suo motu action and booked Subrahmanian under section 192 (deliberately provoking others in a manner that could lead to rioting) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and section 120(o) (causing inconvenience or annoyance through any means of communication) of the Kerala Police Act.
Subrahmanian reportedly shared two pictures on Facebook: one is a normal picture featuring Pinarayi and Potti, while the other shows both of them smiling and depicts their closeness. The second image was reportedly created using AI.
Earlier, speaking with the media on December 25, MV Govindan, Kerala State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), stated that one of two pictures is AI-generated. He explained, “There are two pictures: one was taken during an event, while the other, showing the Chief Minister touching his ears. The second one is fake.”
The gold misappropriation in Sabarimala is currently investigated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the supervision of the Kerala High Court. On October 16, SIT arrested priest-turned-businessman Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in two cases linked to the misappropriation. So far, the SIT has arrested seven people, six of them attached to the Travancore Devasom Board.