Accountant held for stalking, threatening ex-fiance

New Delhi: A 26-year-old accountant was arrested here for allegedly stalking and harassing his ex-fiance online by creating her fake account on Instagram and posting her private pictures on his WhatsApp status with vulgar comments to defame her, police said on Monday. The accused, Zubair Akhtar, had also threatened the victim to share her private pictures on social media platforms because of which she even attempted suicide once, they said. Akhtar, a resident of Chandni Chowk, was engaged to the victim seven to eight years ago, and their courtship period lasted for three years before they parted ways, police informed.

During this period, he clicked some private pictures of the woman which were still in his possession and now, he was threatening to share those online. According to them, the victim broke off her engagement with Akhtar because of his possessive and abusive behaviour. He used to continuously stalk her every online activity and was obsessed with her, they said, quoting the complainant. The victim, who is pursuing her PG diploma in fashion designing, filed a complaint against him with the Cyber Cell of North district on January 25.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said details of the Instagram account and the WhatsApp number allegedly used for committing the offence have been obtained. Based on the information provided by the complainant and the details of the Whatsapp number used, the role of the accused is being ascertained, he said.

The mobile number used in the alleged WhatsApp account was found to be registered in the name of the accused which corroborated with the version of the complainant, Kalsi said. "On the bases of call detail records, a police team traced the location of the accused to his office in Connaught Place where he was subsequently nabbed on Sunday," the DCP said.

During interrogation, two mobile phones used in the offence, along with three SIM cards and a micro SD card, were seized from his possession and on inspection of his mobile phones, it was found that both contained private pictures of the complainant, along with screenshots of all her WhatsApp and Instagram status and posts, he said. A case was registered under sections 354A (Sexual Harassment), 354D (Stalking), 500 (defamation), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code, police said.