The Delhi Police Crime Branch has sent an official request to social networking sites Facebook and Twitter asking them to block the circulation of intimate photographs of journalist Amrita Rai and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.
The development comes a day after a case was registered against unknown persons for hacking into Ms. Rai’s e-mail account.
According to the police, Ms. Rai had requested them to block the circulation of the photographs as it was harming her reputation.
She also told them that she was being threatened through these pictures.
“Ms. Rai had filed a complaint on Thursday evening. We have registered a case under Section 66 of the IT Act and 509 of the Indian Penal Code against unidentified persons. We sent an official request to social networking sites on Friday to provide us with information about the origins and Internet Protocol addresses from where the photographs were being circulated. We have also asked them to block further circulation of the photographs,” said a police officer.
Talking about developments in the case, the officer said it was too early to determine the identities of persons involved or the motive behind circulating the photographs.
“The headquarters of these social media sites are based abroad and it takes time for them to respond or provide information. Our Cyber Cell has already begun investigations and we hope to find the source IP address soon,” said an officer.
Ms. Rai had also tweeted that someone had hacked into her e-mail account.
“My email/computer been hacked & contents tampered with. It is a serious crime in India and encroachment of my privacy. I strongly condemn it [sic].”
The officer revealed that Ms. Rai had in her complaint alleged that the hackers had created a fake Twitter handle in her name and that she was being harassed through abusive tweets. She also gave the police a list of Twitter handles from which she was receiving abusive comments and tweets.
Officers probing the case have not ruled out physical tampering of her laptop either.
“There is a chance that her laptop was tampered with physically, but as of now we think it was hacked through a wireless Internet facility,” the officer added.
