Hyderabad: A troubling sequence of events has unfolded at the Telangana Raj Bhavan, where an IT assistant has been arrested twice within five days—first for digitally morphing obscene images of a woman colleague, and later for stealing a hard disk containing those very images from official premises.He is currently in judicial remand.According to the complaint, the stolen hard disk contained confidential data including internal office files, user credentials, and IT inspection reports.The case originated on May 10 when Punjagutta Police, based on the complaint of a 29-year-old woman employee of Raj Bhavan, registered a case under BNS Section 75 relating to sexual harassment and IT Act Section 65. The complainant alleged that unknown persons had created morphed, obscene photographs using her face and shared them with a colleague, who worked as a household attender and assisted with IT duties.Ironically, it was the IT assistant who first informed the complainant of the morphed images and showed them to her on his phone. At her request, he shared the IP address from which the images were sent, which she then forwarded to Panjagutta police.Following a detailed investigation, police identified the 45-year-old IT assistant as the perpetrator behind the creation and circulation of the images. “He was arrested on May 12 and sent to judicial custody. He was later released on bail and subsequently suspended by Raj Bhavan,” said Punjagutta ACP S Mohan Kumar.However, the case took a disturbing turn. While under suspension, the accused assistant allegedly returned to Raj Bhavan late at night and stole a hard disk containing the morphed images and other sensitive data. The theft came to light on May 15, when IT manager N Rakesh filed a second complaint after discovering irregularities in one of the office computers.“When network engineer Sriram and I entered room No. 104 on May 15, we noticed the computer was on and logged into a different account. Upon further inspection, we found the hard disk had been replaced. CCTV footage revealed that the IT assistant had entered the premises at 10.11 pm on May 14 — just hours after he was suspended at 8.10pm — wearing a helmet to conceal his identity,” Rakesh stated in his complaint. At the time, the security personnel were unaware that the accused had been suspended.Police registered a fresh case on May 15 night under BNS Sections 305(a) (theft in a building), 316(5) (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), and 331(4) (lurking house trespass or housebreaking by night with intent to commit a punishable offence).The accused was arrested the same day, and the stolen hard disk was recovered.