Youth held for stalking girl, posting vulgar messages after she breaks friendship

PTI, Sep 5, 2022, 4:34 PM IST

A 21-year-old man who posed himself as an army personnel and befriended a class XII student by hiding his ‘religious identity’ was arrested for allegedly stalking her and posting vulgar messages on social media after she broke her friendship with him, police said on Monday. Accused Aas Mohammad used a fake name to conceal his identity. He introduced himself as Ashu Rana to the minor girl on a social media platform where they became friends and later also exchanged their mobile numbers, police said.

The duo also met four-five times in GTB Nagar here but after her mother got to know about their friendship, she broke her relation with him after knowing his real identity, police said. To defame and harass the 17-year-old victim, the accused later created her multiple fake accounts on social media platforms and and posted vulgar messages with her photograph, a senior police official said.

The matter came to light when the teenager filed a complaint at cyber police station of North district. According to the police, in her complaint, she alleged that she had been harassed and defamed by the accused Aas Mohammad.

When their friendship was exposed to her mother, she inquired about the accused and found out his real name and thereafter, the girl stopped talking to him ”However, he started harassing and defaming her by creating fake social media accounts on Instagram in the name of victim. Aas Mohammad contacted her friends and teachers through these fake social media profiles. He tried to extort money from them and when he failed to do so, he abused them and posted vulgar messages with complainant’s photograph on social media to defame her,” said Sagar Singh Kalsa, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North). Police said a case under sections of 419 (cheating by personation), 500 (defamation), 354-D (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of POCSO and IT Acts respectively. During investigation, details of alleged Instagram profile were obtained which ascertained that mobile number used for registration of the alleged profile was registered in the name of accused Aas Mohammad, resident of a village in Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh, the senior police officer said.

The accused was arrested on September 3 and a mobile phone along with two SIM cards were recovered from his possession, he said. When the accused was interrogated, he revealed that he initially became friend with the victim on TikTok platform where they exchanged their mobile numbers. ”Since the exposure of their friendship in front of her mother, she broke the friendship and stopped talking to him. Hence, he planned to defame and harass her by making fake profiles. He started harassing complainant’s friends, relatives and teachers. He also tried to extort money from her by posting vulgar comments with complainant’s photographs on social media site,” she added. Police said Aas Mohammad served as a cook on contract basis in Indian Army at Kalina Cantt, Mumbai and his previous antecedents are being verified.