Man arrested for stalking, blackmailing women on Facebook

The 30-year-old Varakala Ramesh is a resident of Hayathnagar in Ranga Reddy district. Earlier, he had worked as a sub-editor in a media firm. However, he had lost the job due to his bad behaviour. In 2018, he created a fake Facebook profile in the name 'Padmavathi-Padmavathi' with an intention of gathering information about women and blackmailing them. He would search for women's profiles on Facebook and send them friend requests.

He targeted and befriended one woman in this way. The two started chatting on Facebook and during the course of their friendship, Ramesh managed to find her mobile number and address. Then he contacted the victim and blackmailed her by threatening to send her nude pictures. The victim realised that her Facebook friend was a man and immediately blocked him and his phone number.

However, Ramesh started contacting her from different phone numbers and WhatsApp numbers. He threatened to upload her WhatsApp chat and her morphed photos on social media if she did not talk to him. This frightened the woman and she started chatting with him. A few days later, the two met and Ramesh forcibly took photographs of both of them on his mobile phone. He then took her phone, gathered her Facebook and WhatsApp details and logged in to his account through his mobile phone.

Later, Ramesh sent messages to all her friends on Facebook and WhatsApp with an intention to defame her in front of her friends and relatives. On the basis of technical evidence, the IO arrested Ramesh and sent him to judicial remand. Two mobile phones were seized from the accused.