Kin of Mumbai actress booked for defaming and sexual harassment after fake account

FIR was registered against her relative under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code , and sections of the IT Act

A 28-year-old engineer has been recently booked for defaming and sexually harassing a Mumbai-based actress. The accused allegedly created a fake account on a photo-sharing app in the actress’ name and posted photos of her. He also posed as the complainant and engaged in obscene chats with random men on the social media platform.

A 28-year-old allegedly created a fake account on a photo-sharing app in the actress’ name and posted photos of her. (Bloomberg File Photo / Representative image)

According to the Santacruz police, the 40-year-old actress approached them on June 11 and lodged a complaint alleging a distant relative of hers was sexually harassing her. She told them that the accused is an engineer and gave the police his address.

As per her allegations, the woman received a phone call from a male friend who told her about the obscene chats on the social media profile featuring her name and photos. The actress confirmed she never created the profile on the app and that she opted for other social media platforms instead.

The friend informed her that two phone numbers were being shared and the person impersonating her was making sexual advances towards men.

The complainant recognised one of the contacts as being her old phone number, which she had stopped using. The other number belonged to her distant relative.

She said the photos uploaded on the fake account were given to the same relative as he had promised to look for acting assignments for her.

The woman called her relative and confronted him about the photos and numbers. He confessed to the crime and said he had made a mistake.

The actress then approached the Santacruz police station, where a first information report (FIR) was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act.