The central crime branch unit (CCU) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police have arrested a 22-year-old youth on charges of stalking a woman who he had met on social networking platform-Instagram. The accused who has been identified as-Prakash Shankar Shamsher (22)- a resident of Bhayandar was apprehended from Nashik.
The accused had been stalking the woman and issuing death threats to her following which she registered a complaint at the local police station. However, the accused was frequently changing his locations to dodge the police following which the CCU was roped in to conduct parallel investigations into the case.
A team led by police inspector- Rahul Raakh checked the Instagram account of the accused and on the virtue of inputs provided by an informer backed by electronic surveillance tracked his present location and arrested him from the Deolali area of Nashik with the help of their local counterparts.
The accused who has been booked under sections 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman), 354-D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC has been remanded to custody. While further investigations and background checks were on to ascertain the involvement of the accused in other similar offences, the police have urged people to avoid interacting with strangers on social networking sites.
