Woman news anchor stalked and defamed online; Mumbai man nabbed after inquiry

NEW DELHI: A woman news anchor was allegedly stalked, defamed and harassed on Instagram by an unknown man, leading to the arrest of a 40-year-old Mumbai resident, police said. The case was reported at the Cyber Police Station, Outer North Delhi.

The accused has been identified as Chet Kamal Prakash, 40, son of Sansar Chand, and a resident of Sahar Village, Andheri East, Mumbai.

According to the police, a technical investigation traced his digital activity to several fake social media accounts created for online bullying and identity theft. Officers seized a Vivo T2x 5G smartphone and a Dell laptop, both suspected to have been used in the commission of the crime.

The complainant, a resident of Palla Bakhtawarpur, Delhi, stated that her photographs were uploaded on Instagram with forged and derogatory captions.

She further alleged that the perpetrator operated multiple accounts using her identity and threatened, over a phone call, to sabotage her upcoming marriage and continue circulating insulting content targeting her and her family.

Following a preliminary inquiry, an FIR dated November 16 was registered under Section 66C of the IT Act at the Cyber Police Station, Outer North District.

Given the seriousness of the harassment, a special team was formed under Inspector Govind Singh, SHO Cyber, supervised by ACP Dinesh Kumar and DCP Hareshwar Swami. The unit, comprising SI Ravi Rana, HC Vikas and HC Sanjeet, examined technical details of the fake Instagram IDs and linked Gmail accounts.

Analysis of call detail records, subscriber information and IP logs showed that all the accounts were accessed using the same mobile number mentioned in the complaint. Digital footprints consistently pointed to Sahar, Mumbai, where the accused had also created new fake Instagram accounts in October.

Acting on these leads, the team conducted a raid in Sahar Village, Andheri East, and arrested the accused, recovering the devices used in the offences. The seized phone and laptop have been placed in open condition for forensic examination.

Police are now investigating whether additional accounts, digital assets or victims are connected to the cyberbullying network. The probe

is ongoing.