Mumbai's Bhoiwada police registered an FIR against an Instagram account holder on May 22 following a complaint about an allegedly manipulated video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Indian Express reported that police were trying to identify the person operating the account, rather than treating the profile's displayed name as established proof of identity.
Complainant Deepak Singh, a BJP Yuva Morcha worker, said he encountered the Instagram post on May 20 and subsequently found the same video on Facebook. He alleged that it used deepfake technology and insulting language to create a false account about the Prime Minister. Those descriptions were allegations in his complaint.
Senior Inspector Dattatray Thakur told the newspaper that investigators were examining who used the Instagram account because its name might be false. The FIR cited sections 196, 352, 353 and 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, alongside Information Technology Act provisions.
A later Free Press Journal report, updated at 9.41 pm on May 22, supplied further details from the FIR. It identified Singh as the Mumbai president of the party's youth wing and said he was at the BJP office in the Vasant Smruti building in Dadar East when he encountered the post while checking social media.
That report placed the video's upload on May 19, one day before the complainant said he saw it. It described allegations of a manipulated scene showing Modi polishing a sheikh's shoes. It also reported that the Instagram and Facebook profiles described themselves as digital creators, with Mumbai listed on the Facebook profile.
The later account listed Information Technology Act sections 66C, 66D and 67 among the provisions invoked. The case thus concerned alleged creation and circulation across two platforms. The reported profile details do not resolve the identity question raised by the investigating officer, and the two reports did not present a forensic determination of how the clip was produced.
