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A 20-year-old man who allegedly harassed three girls by sending them morphed pictures through WhatsApp has been arrested - Representational Image Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

A 20-year-old man from the Indian state of Telangana has been arrested for allegedly trying to extort money from a girl by sending her morphed nude pictures through WhatsApp, police said on Saturday (18 November).

The accused, identified as Sai Kiran Reddy, was nabbed by the cyber crime cell from his house in the city of Warangal. The authorities have also seized the mobile phone which was used by Reddy for committing the offence.

According to police, the victims, an engineering student, received a WhatsApp message on 12 November from an unknown number asking her to share her pictures but she blocked the number.

Following this, one of her classmates received the victim's morphed pictures with abusive text, Telangana Today news website reported.

The victim later received a message demanding money.
"The suspect threatened to post her morphed pictures on porn sites. He also sent her morphed pictures to some of her classmates too," police said.

Based on the victim's complaint, a case was booked against the accused on 13 November. The police said that the phone had evidence which proved Reddy was behind the crime.

Reddy, who is also a second-year engineering student in Warangal, later confessed that he was harassing the victims for not responding to his messages and for blocking him. The man said he had decided to take revenge by sending morphed pictures and vulgar texts to the girl, DNA India reported.

The accused has now been sent to judicial custody.