Teen arrested for stalking, sending lewd messages on Instagram
The culprit turned out to be the victim’s cousin from Akola (Representational Image)
The Mumbai Crime Branch on Friday arrested a 19-year-old for allegedly stalking and harassing a medical professional by sending lewd messages from multiple Instagram accounts
According to a Crime Branch official, the accused, who was nabbed from his native Akola district in Maharashtra, is a relative of the complainant.
The 21-year-old woman had approached Nirmal Nagar police station complaining that an unidentified person was sending lewd messages on her Instagram account since October last year.
The official said that the accused had created 20 fake Instagram accounts to cyber stalk the victim and would create new ones every time she blocked an account.
Following the complaint, Unit XI of the Crime Branch began investigations and, along with the Cyber Crime Cell, managed to track down the accused’s IP address and phone details, the official said.
The data showed that the device used to create the fake profile was based in Akola. However, its location would change to Mumbai intermittently. The change lined with the culprit’s visits, who would frequently travel to Mumbai to meet his relatives.
The class XIII graduate, a cousin of the complainant, was picked up by Unit XI officers on Friday.
He confessed to the crime, following which he was handed over to Nirmal Nagar police station for further probe under sections 354 (d), 506 and 509 of the IPC and relevant sections of IT act.
