Man held for posting morphed pictures of Delhi woman on Insta

NEW DELHI: A 23-year-old autorickshaw driver was arrested for allegedly creating multiple Instagram accounts of a Delhi woman and uploading her morphed pictures, police said on Wednesday.

Roshan Sharma was arrested from Loni in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district, they said.

Sharma claimed to have created the fake profiles to take revenge against the woman after her brothers allegedly thrashed him during an argument he had with with his girlfriend, a friend of the victim.

In her complaint to the police last month, the victim -- a resident of Jyoti Nagar in northeast Delhi -- alleged that someone had created Instagram accounts in her name and uploaded her morphed pictures and mobile number. During inquiry, the police found three Instagram accounts with obscene and morphed pictures of the victim. The accounts also mentioned her mobile number, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Joy Tirkey said.

After registering a case under sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code, the police obtained details and IP address used to operate the accounts, he said. On the basis of the information, the location of the mobile phone used to operate the accounts was traced to Loni and Sharma apprehended, Turkey said.

During interrogation, Sharma revealed that when he used to live at Mukund Vihar in Delhi's Karawal Nagar, he had an argument with his girlfriend during which the victim also got involved. When he also abused the victim, she called up her brothers and got him beaten up, the police official said.

''To avenge the insult, he (Sharma) downloaded the victim's pictures from her WhatsApp profile, created three fake Instagram accounts in her name and uploaded the morphed images with her mobile number,'' Turkey added.

The mobile phone and two SIM cards used to commit the crime were also seized from Sharma, the police said.