Morphing case: police to probe suspected rivalry between accused

Following the arrest of all three accused persons in the Vadakara photo morphing case, the police are planning to investigate more about the suspected business rivalry between the accused in the photography field and the alleged attempt of the prime accused to blackmail women using the morphed photographs.

Though S. Bibeesh, the prime accused, confessed to the crime with a claim that he had morphed only a few photographs for personal gratification and had not used them for blackmailing anyone, the police are yet to buy his statement.

Brothers’ role

Police sources said the other accused – who are brothers and the owners of the studio – C.M. Dinesan and C.M. Satheesan were suspected of having bigger involvement in the case. Investigation revealed that they had clear knowledge about Bibeesh’s morphing activities at their studio. The sources also hinted at the possibility of charging one of the accused for child pornography as a computer seized from the studio reportedly contained morphed images of a 12-year-old girl from the region. As details of the images were unclear, the computers seized from the studio were sent for inspection at the Cyber Forensic wing.

During the interrogation, Bibeesh reportedly told the police that he was trapped by the brothers as they were not happy with his decision to leave the studio for self-employment.

He also claimed that they had also kept the morphed photos in their custody for months to use them as a tool to prevent his resignation.

Earlier, six suspected women victims had petitioned the Vadakara police for action against the accused.

FB accounts

The circulation of morphed images through fake Facebook accounts had been brought to the attention of the police. Sources said the details of such accounts would be traced during the investigation. The police arrested the studio owners on April 2, and Bibeesh, who had been evading the arrest for more than a week, was arrested two days later from Idukki.