Cyber-Stalker Gundupelli Surya Manikanta arrested Rachakonda Police

Hyderabad: The Rachakonda Cyber Cell police today arrested 24-year-old Gundupelli Surya Manikanta of Basheerabad for uploading personal pictures of a woman on social media, stalking her and maligning her.

According to the police, the suspect created a fake Facebook profile with the victim’s name and her photograph. He had downloaded the picture from her original profile and published the fake profile with her mobile number with derogatory comments that she was seeking relationships.

The issue came to light after the victim’s elder sister started receiving messages with private pictures of the victim on WhatsApp. “She received those messages from the suspect’s personal mobile phone number,” said the police, adding that Manikanta was a classmate of the victim.

Cyber Cell Inspector Mohammad Riyazuddin said Manikanta had taken her photographs when they were friends. However, when the girl realised that his intentions were not straightforward, she stopped communicating with him. He then began sending her pictures to her sister and relatives. When she reprimanded him for this, he created the fake Facebook profile, after which she began getting lewd phone calls from strangers. Manikanta had sent her a message threatening that he would share her personal pictures with her contacts if she did not call him. It was following this that the victim and her sister approached the police and lodged a complaint.

Police have seized his mobile phone while Manikanta was produced before court and remanded in judicial custody.

Rachakonda Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat said in a majority of such cases, the offenders were known to the victims and were recording their intimate movements by taking the advantage of their friendship.