Chennai: The Madras High Court on Friday (October 23) granted conditional bail to Shyabu Khan, a man from Rajasthan who was arrested for allegedly creating fake AI-generated videos of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay and collecting money from the public in his name.

Source: LiveLaw

Justice N. Ramesh directed Khan to report to the jurisdictional police daily until further orders and to furnish two sureties — one a blood relative and one a local surety. The court noted that Khan has been in judicial custody since September 12, 2026, that the investigation has been completed and the chargesheet is ready, and that the mobile phone allegedly used in the offence has been seized.

What the prosecution alleges

According to the prosecution, Khan allegedly operated two Facebook profiles — “All India Help Vijay Thalapati” and “All India Help” — and circulated digitally manipulated AI videos in which the Chief Minister appeared to offer help to people in need, inviting viewers to contact him and pay registration fees. He is booked under Sections 204, 318(2), 319(2), 336(3) and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act, which cover cheating, personation, forgery and identity theft. The allegations are yet to be proved in court.

Source: Mirror Now

The case was registered by the Cyber Crime Cell of the CB-CID, which, according to earlier reporting by The Hindu, came across the deepfake videos during regular cyber patrolling and traced the accounts to Boontoli village in Rajasthan's Alwar district, where Khan, 28, was arrested with the help of Rajasthan Police and brought to Tamil Nadu on a transit warrant. The Principal Sessions Court in Chennai had refused him bail on October 14 because the investigation was then incomplete. Khan has maintained that he is innocent and has alleged that a friend created the videos using his phone number, Facebook ID and bank account.