HPCC office secretary Mahinder Singh had lodged a complaint with the police earlier this month, alleging that the morphed pictures of HPCC chief Phool Chand Mullana, two former presidents Birendra Singh and Shamsher Singh Surjewala, and HPCC general secretary and Education Minister Mange Ram Gupta were sent to many people, including mediapersons, on January 25 at 10.21 pm through an email id ‘haryana.needs@gmail.com’. Sources said the email account was registered only a few minutes before the pictures were circulated.

Senior Superintendent of Police S S Srivastava said they would write to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to approach the government of Egypt to track down the culprits behind the crime. “We will approach the Egyptian high commission through the MEA to help us find the people involved in defaming the HPCC members,” he added.

The police said the morphed pictures showed the ministers in objectionable positions with girls. “The faces of the men in the original pictures were replaced with that of the HPCC members,” said a source.

In a similar case, the cell has found the origin of the obscene pictures of model Noor Kataria’s friend uploaded on ‘www.hi5.com’. Officers said the pictures were uploaded from Delhi in the first week of January. The IP address of the computer is registered in the name of an individual living in Delhi.