It took several weeks, a second FIR and more alleged abuse before Bengaluru Police arrested Rahul Singh, CEO of a Bengaluru-based startup, under various sections of the IT Act for circulating obscene images of his former girlfriend by impersonating her on Instagram.
A 24-year-old woman had accused the 28-year-old resident of Kanakpura Road of creating a fake Instagram account in her name, posting her private pictures on the site and sending friend requests to people in her friends circle. Singh was picked up from Toit, an establishment in Indiranagar on Thursday night, 3 October, when he was out with friends. Another FIR was earlier registered against him on charges of anonymous criminal intimidation, sexual harassment, stalking, trespassing and more with the HSR Layout police station.
In her statement, the complainant said that the 'inaction' on part of HSR Layout police, she believes, is because “they are influenced by his father”. This led her to file a second FIR with a different station, Koramangala, when she found out from a friend about the fake Instagram account. The woman had previously accused Singh of turning up at her home with a knife, stealing her phone to access her social media accounts, and sending her abusive emails on a near-daily basis.
Singh has been arrested under non-bailable sections of the IT act 67(a) and 67(d) which relate to punishment for transmitting sexually explicit content without consent and publishing obscene content.
Speaking to The Quint, the complainant said that she hoped the cops are able to get her pictures taken down at the earliest and that she had reported the account to Instagram.
“I had filed the FIR on 14 September but cops said he was absconding after visiting his house. He used to keep sending me abusive messages almost daily from different email ids. I think they wanted to boycott me because of his father and never took my complaint seriously. I took the help of DCP Isha Pant and was able to file another FIR at the Koramangala station. Inspector Raghavendra and SI Ravi at the HSR Layout police station did nothing to investigate the crimes. I used to be afraid to step out of my house and go to work,” she said.
The accused is son of Director, CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR-CIMFR), Dhanbad. In her earlier complaint, the woman had also claimed that the father called up her mother in another city, and threatened that the complainant’s life would be at risk if the case was not withdrawn.
“I think they did not wish to act against the son of an influential person. Even though his father called up my mother and threatened my life. Despite the FIR, he would send me messages every day describing my outfit etc so I knew he was watching me,” she said.
The private firm employee had alleged in her first complaint to the cops that Singh had been physically abusive towards her during their relationship, causing her to call it off in August this year. Soon after they broke up, the abuse allegedly intensified. The pair first met in December 2017.
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