New Delhi: Delhi Police carried out on Saturday multiple raids in search for the person who first circulated a deepfake video of Telugu actor Rashmika Mandanna, a day after it filed an FIR invoking sections of laws against forgery and digital offences.

The video, which went viral on Monday, shows Mandanna’s face almost indiscernibly superimposed on the body of British-Indian social media influencer Zara Patel as the latter walks into an elevator.

Both the women said they had not consented to the video manipulation, immediately bringing into spotlight the potential harms from such technology that can be similarly used to create more harmful deepfakes.

People aware of the matter said that one person was briefly detained but released after investigators from Delhi Police’s Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) did not suspect them to be a key individual of interest.

The raids, at five locations, were based on internet protocol (IP) address details the police received from social media companies on which the video spread.

“We are keeping a close eye on all possible locations of IP addresses in Delhi from where the videos were likely been circulated,” an officer said, asking not to be named. “However, nothing concrete could be found during the raids so far.”

IFSO, the main unit probing cyber-related offences, took up the case after a complaint was received from Delhi Commission of Women on Friday after it took cognisance of the video, Hemant Tiwari, deputy commissioner of police, IFSO, said a statement.

A first information report under sections 465 (forgery) and 469 (forgery to harm reputation) of the Indian Penal Code has been lodged, he said. The FIR also mentions sections 66 and 66E (computer-related offences) of the IT Act.

“We have already started the technical analysis and securing details from Meta (parent of Facebook) and other social media platforms to provide the URL (unique resource locator) of the account from which the deep fake video of actress Rashmika Mandanna was shared on social media,” Tiwari said. “However, no accused has been arrested as yet.”

After the video went viral, the central government on Wednesday issued an advisory to social media intermediaries, including Facebook, Instagram, X, Snapchat and others, in which they were instructed to exercise due diligence and make reasonable efforts to identify misinformation and fakes.