madurai l sunday l January 21, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION Creator of viral deepfake video of Rashmika Mandanna arrested The Delhi Police said it arrested a B-Tech graduate from Andhra Pradesh over the deepfake video that was widely circulated on social media Posted video to boost actor’s fan page Big fan of actor, created video using A.I. The accused, identified as 23-year-old Eemani Naveen from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, created the video to increase the number of followers on the Instagram fan page of the actor he created. However, when the video went viral, he panicked and deleted it. The police said the fan following of the page increased from 90,000 to 1,08,000 within two weeks ■ ■ Following a complaint by Delhi Commission for Women, the police filed a case. It then sought Meta’s help to identify the accused After Naveen’s account was traced, a Delhi Police team reached Guntur to arrest him. Naveen told the police he is a big fan of the actor and created the video using AI with help from YouTube Oct 9 when the video was uploaded on the insta fan page of Rashmika CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ED finally grills Soren in Ranchi land scam case M UK E SH RA N JA N @ Ranchi Amid protests by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha workers, officials of the Enforcement Directorate began questioning Chief Minister Hemant Soren at his residence since 1 pm in connection with a land scam. Soren had skipped seven summonses before he agreed to be questioned. According to sources, eight ED officials came in with files and a list of 300 questions for the interrogation. Later in the evening, additional files were brought in. The ED is investigating the Ranchi land scam on the basis of documents recovered from key accused Bhanu Pratap Prasad’s house. Several important documents relating to the scam were found in the raid from the house of Sub-Inspector Prasad of Badagain zone. Certain documents show the CM allegedly grabbing a tribal land in Ranchi. 4 Amid apprehension that Soren could be arrested, many MLAs of the ruling alliance gathered at his house since morning to show their support. Hundreds of JMM workers gathered near his house with bow and arrow placards, party flags and banners. They were shouting slogans against the ED and the Centre. They warned that the ED should be prepared to face the consequences if it were to arrest Soren. Soon security was beefed up and prohibitory orders issued within a radius of 500 metres from the CM’s house till 11 pm. On Wednesday the JMM had , claimed that there is huge resentiment among p e o p l e against ED’s actions. JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya hinted that the anger among people against the ED could take an ugly shape. “It is therefore crucial that ED remains fact-based and reliable,” he added. PM does temple-hopping in Tamil Nadu; Centre warns media houses over fake content Ahead of Ayodhya ceremony, Trust to take Modi visits two TN temples action over leaked picture E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Tiruchy/ Ramanathapuram Extending his visits to temples in the south with a Ramayana connect, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday offered worship at the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam and Ramanathaswamy temple in Rameswaram and took a holy dip at the Rameswaram ‘ gni Theerth’ beach. A The former is a Vaishnavite temple; the latter is dedicated to Lord Shiva. On his way to the Srirangam temple, the PM stood on the running board of his car and waved at people and BJP workers who had gathered at vantage points to greet him. His visit to the shrines comes just two days ahead of the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ (consecration) of the grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The PM listened to ‘Kamba’ Ramayana recitation by scholars in Srirangam. He wore a ‘veshti’ (dhothi) and an angawastram (a shawl). Modi was blessed with ‘sadari’ (crown, symbolising Lord Vishnu’s blessings) by priests after he offered prayer at the S r i R a n g a n at h a sw a my temple. N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Ayodhya Prime Minister Narendra Modi pours holy water on his head at ‘Kodi Theertham’ at Sri Ramanathaswamy temple | pti The PM later flew to Rameswaram on a MI 17 helicopter. He reached Pekkarumbu area and proceeded to Ramanathaswamy temple by road. Modi, who was seen wearing a rudraksha mala, prayed at the ancient Shiva temple and took a dip in the 22 ‘theerths’ inthe temple complex. The PM took part in Ramayan Path and Bhajan Sandhya at the temple. On Sunday, he will visit the Kothandaramar temple and also visit Arichal Munai in Dhanushkodi.full report: p4 Will fully fence Myanmar border, says Shah DAYS TO GO PRESENTS THINKEDU CONCLAVE Sania divorces, Shoaib marries for third time E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ Chennai Speculations on separation between high-profile sports stars Sania MIrza and Shoaib Malik were put to rest when the former Pakistan cricket captain announced his third marriage with popular actor from his country Sana Javed in Karachi on Saturday. He also shared his marriage photographs on social media X. This has put to rest numerous rumours and unconfirmed stories revolving around Sania and Shoaib’s marriage and subsequent separation. The sporting royalties were hardly seen together in public and there were conjectures of rift between the two. Sania and Shoaib got married in 2010 and have a son named Izaan, who is five now and lives with Sania. After marriage the two lived in Dubai. According to reports family sources said it was a ‘khula’, which gives the right to a woman to divorce her husband. P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Guwahati Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the Centre would fence the over 1,600 km long porous India-Myanmar border even as he exuded confidence that India would be free from the Naxal problem within the next three years. He made the statement on fencing while addressing the passing out parade of 2,551 Assam police commandos here. They were trained by the Army and the police. “We have a porous border with Myanmar. The Modi government has decided to fence it. The entire border will be protected through fencing similar to that of the Bangladesh border,” Shah said. He also said the Centre reviewed its Free Movement Regime (FMR) agreement with Myanmar and decided to do away with it. India and Union home minister Amit Shah during the 60th Raising Day ceremony of Sashastra Seema Bal in Tezpur on Saturday | PTI Myanmar had signed the FMR pact to facilitate the movement of people residing along the international border. It allowed them to travel up to 16 km inside each other’s territo- ries without travel documents. Recently, the Mizoram government expressed opposition to the Centre’s move. Chief Minister Lalduhoma told Modi the Mizos consider the state’s 510 km long border with Myanmar as imposed by the British. The Chins in Myanmar and the Mizos are ethnic cousins, belonging to the Zo community . Shah did not spell out why the decision was taken but it is a fact that the open border allows insurgents, among others, to sneak in and out of India. Also, the Manipur government suspected the involvement of Myanmar-based Kuki militants in the violence in the state. Meanwhile, addressing the 60th raising day of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in Assam’s Tezpur, Shah said the entire country will be 100% free from the Naxal problem within the next three years. 4 killed, 7 injured as car rams bridge parapet in Thanjavur E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Thanjavur Four people from Thoothukudi district died and seven others, including a seven-year-old boy, were injured when their car rammed the parapet wall of a small bridge on East Coast Road (ECR) near Manora in Thanjavur district early on Saturday . According to police sources, 11 people — B Mariyaselvaraj (37) of M o o n av a t h u M i l e a r e a o f Thoothukudi, his wife Fathima Mary (31) son Santhosh Selvam (7), and relatives and friends — started their drive to Velankanni church in Nagappattinam district late on Friday to fulfill a vow. M Chinnapandi (40) was driving the car. When the car was passing near the Manora area in Thanjavur district in the wee hours of Saturday, the driver lost control and the car hit the wall of the culvert bridge across a small canal. In the impact, driver Chinnapandi, Y Backiyaraj (62), A Gnanambal (60), and M Rani (40) died on the spot. Seven others injured, including Shanmugathai (53), Sarawathy (50), Ganapathy (40) and Latha (40), were rushed to Thanjavur Medical College Hospital. The Sethubavachathiram police sent the bodies of the four deceased to Pattukkottai Government Hospital for postmortem. Further investigation is on. Meanwhile, Chief Minister M K The car hit the wall of a culvert bridge across a small canal near Manora area in Thanjavur district early on Saturday | Express Stalin condoled the death of the four people in the road accident and announced a solatium of `2 lakh each to their families. The CM has also ordered special medical treatment for the injured and sanctioned `25,000 relief to each of them. The Shree Ram Teerth Kshetra Trust that oversees the construction of Ram Temple, on Saturday warned that it will take action against those who released the image of the Ram Lalla idol’s face before the consecration. The image of the new idol without its face covered — sculpted by Arun Yogiraj — went viral on social media on Friday . The picture was said to be taken when the idol was in workshop. It was not released by any competent authority or the temple trust. Official images were to be released in public domain only after the consecration on January 22. The Centre issued a media advisory cautioning them against publishing any false or manipulated content related to the event that could disturb communal harmony . Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the mukhya yajman (main host for the puja) of the consecration, will be joined by 14 other yajmans drawn from different sections of society in the final puja. , Thus Begins the Age of Ram PLUS 12 PAGES