25-year-old held in Mumbai for stalking woman, defaming her on FB to force her to leave husband

The woman filed a complaint after the accused, her nephew, created a fake Facebook profile and posted a photo of the two of them together

A 25-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly blackmailing, stalking, creating a fake Facebook profile and uploading objectionable photos of a married woman, in an attempt to force her to leave her husband and marry him.

On Thursday, after the accused created a fake Facebook profile and uploaded a photo of hers with him and sent her a link, the woman approached the police. (HT File Photo)

The Sakinaka police said the 26-year-old complainant lives in Andheri with her husband and son, and that the accused is her nephew.

As per the complaint, for the past three months, the accused had been trying to get the complainant to leave her husband and elope with him. “She refused to do so, and ordered him not to visit her house. After that, he started stalking her,” said a police official, who did not wish to be named.

“He would follow her when she left home to drop her son to school. Last week, he threatened that he would upload objectionable photos of her on social media to defame her,” the official revealed, adding that the accused was trying to get her husband to divorce her. In her statement, the woman told the police that now she is too scared to step out of her house.

On Thursday, after the accused created a fake Facebook profile and uploaded a photo of hers with him and sent her a link, the woman approached the police. On Friday, the Sakinaka police registered a complaint, and within 24 hours, he was traced and arrested.

The accused has been booked under section 354D of the Indian Penal Code for stalking, and sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act for identity theft and impersonation using a computer.