Man held for harassing young women on social media platforms: Delhi Police

PTI, Feb 26, 2023, 1:26 PM IST

A 32-year-old man was apprehended from his Uttam Nagar residence here for allegedly stalking and harassing young women on social media platforms, police said on Sunday. The accused, Pradeep Sharma (32), is a resident of Bhagwati Vihar in Uttam Nagar, they said, adding that he is an interior designer by profession.

The accused used to source pictures of the victims’ private moments from their boyfriends by posing as a young woman on social media.

An FIR was lodged on the basis of a complaint from an 18-year-old woman. The complainant alleged that she was being harassed by an unidentified person on social media. The accused had access to personal pictures and videos of the woman and was threatening to make those viral, a senior police officer said.

The pictures and videos were with her former boyfriend who denied sharing those with anyone, police said.

Details related to the accused’s social media profile were obtained, including the IP addresses and e-mail ID used during registration and Sharma was apprehended from his residence, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.

The accused has been married for the last eight years and has a son, police said.

He has a strange obsession for young women and being very shy and introvert, used to indulge in cyber-stalking, they added.

He started making fake profiles on social media platforms, through which he used to get in touch with young men, police said.

Pretending to be a woman, the accused used to indulge in seductive conversations with the men and obtain videos and pictures of private moments of their girlfriends, along with their Instagram profile details, they added.

The accused used to stalk these women using another fake profile and threaten them by showing their private pictures and videos to them, asking for more nude videos and photos, police said.