Hyd techie held for creating fake Insta account, harassing woman with obscene videos

Hyderabad: A 30-year-old techie was arrested on Tuesday for harassing a married woman on social media by creating a fake Instagram account.

The cyber crime police of Rachakonda commissionerate registered a case against Mudethula Prasanth under various sections of the IPC and the IT Act. He was sent to judicial custody.

Prasanth is a software employee and a resident of Chengicherla in Medchal-Malkajgiri. A mobile phone and SIM card that were used to commit the offence were seized from his possession.

Online harassment

On 21 March, the Rachakonda police received a petition from the victim's husband stating that his wife had received a message from an Instagram account (bhavii_098) and the person claimed he knew her well. On the evening of 19 March, the user had made an Instagram video call to his wife and when she picked up the call, he exposed himself. He recorded the video call and took screenshots.

Later, he hacked the victim's Instagram account and started sending the obscene screenshots and video to the victim's friends.

Further, the man created several fake accounts with the woman's photos and sent vulgar messages to her friends.

Based on the man's complaint, a case was registered under various sections of the IPC and the IT Act. On Tuesday morning, the accused was arrested and he admitted to his guilt.

Modus operandi

The accused is a software employee working in a reputed company in Hyderabad. He created a fake Instagram account (bhavii_098) in March 2022 and searched Instagram for accounts of random women. When he found the victim's profile, he sent her a friend request. When she accepted, he found her WhatsApp number from her previous posts on Instagram and started chatting with her by posing as her childhood friend.

Later, the man made a video call to the victim through Instagram and when she picked up, he exposed himself and recorded the call. Further, he changed the name of the fake Instagram to the victim's name and added her original profile pic to that fake account. Then, he impersonated her and sent friend requests to her friends. He sent the recorded video with abusive messages and defamed her. He later deleted the Instagram profile and Gmail ID to escape from the police.

During the course of the investigation, the police collected technical evidence and after analyzing the data and obtaining credible information, arrested Prasanth on 6 June. He was produced before the court and sent to judicial custody.