Chennai: Man morphs wife’s photos, threatens to upload them online, arrested

CHENNAI: Police arrested a 32-year-old man for morphing his wife’s photographs into obscene images and threatening to upload them on the internet if she proceeded with divorce proceedings.

Niranjan Sharma (32), a resident of Urapakkam, was married to Aishwarya (30), a resident of SSM Nagar in Perungalathur, in 2019. The couple has a child.

Police said that the gold jewellery presented to Aishwarya by her family during the wedding was kept by her husband in a safety locker at a private bank in Urapakkam. However, Aishwarya later discovered that Niranjan had been taking the jewellery out of the locker one by one and selling or pledging it. This led to frequent arguments between the two families.

During the disputes, Niranjan assaulted and harassed his wife. He had also taken several photographs of her using his mobile phone from different angles.

In September, Aishwarya left her husband’s house and moved to her parental home in Perungalathur, taking their child and her husband’s mobile phone with her. While examining the mobile phone, she was shocked to discover that her husband had morphed her photographs into obscene images and saved them on the device.

She also found several morphed and sexually explicit images of unidentified women that had been downloaded from social media platforms. Shocked by this, Aishwarya informed her parents that she could no longer continue living with her husband and wanted to seek a divorce.

After learning about her decision, Niranjan began threatening his wife and her parents. He warned that if they proceeded with the divorce, he would upload her obscene and intimate morphed photographs on the internet.

Following this, Aishwarya filed a complaint with the Tambaram City Police Commissionerate, submitting supporting evidence. Based on her complaint, the police registered a case, conducted an investigation and arrested Niranjan Sharma. Further investigation is on.