Andhra Pradesh man held for posting morphed pictures of his female friend online

Bharti met the 21-year-old victim, who is a nurse in a private hospital, through social media in December 2020. After texting for a few days, they allegedly exchanged their mobile numbers. While texting, the accused introduced himself as Prince Goswami and proposed to her, but she refused

Mumbai: A 28-year-old man from Andhra Pradesh was arrested on Sunday for allegedly creating a fake social-media account of his female friend and circulating her morphed pictures after she refused his proposal.

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The accused, Prince Kumar Bharti, a native of Bihar, who works in a private firm as an office boy in Andhra Pradesh. Bharti met the 21-year-old victim, who is a nurse in a private hospital, through social media in December 2020. After texting for a few days, they allegedly exchanged their mobile numbers. While texting, the accused introduced himself as Prince Goswami and proposed to her, but she refused.

After two years of their online friendship, Bharti had come to Mumbai three to four times and met the girl near the Airport and other places in the city.

He again proposed to her and claimed that he works in Dubai and wanted to marry her. The girl suspected foul play and refused his proposal. Bharti got angry and demanded ₹2 lakh from her, claiming that he had spent money on her and given gifts and wanted the money back, but the victim refused to pay him, said a police officer.

After the incident, the girl broke off their friendship, due to which he got angry and changed his SIM card, and deactivated his social media account. The accused then created three social media accounts in the victim’s name and sent friend requests to her family, relatives, and friends. The accused, then morphed the victim’s picture, which he had taken on his mobile when they met at the airport and had also exchanged with each other.

When the victim’s relatives and friends accepted the request, thinking it was her, they were shocked to see her morphed photos and informed the victim about the pictures.

She then approached the DB Marg police station and registered a case last month. During the investigation, the police collected information about the accused and his location, and a police team then visited Andhra Pradesh and arrested him. He was brought to Mumbai and produced in the court and remanded in police custody.