Youth held for stalking woman on Facebook

Snehal Sengupta, TT, Dec. 27:  A youth who had "helped" his friend file a harassment complaint was arrested today after cops found he had opened many fake Facebook accounts in the friend's name and posted her morphed pictures on them.

Cops picked up Ram Sajibar Sharma, 21, a first-year engineering student, from his Baguiati home this afternoon based on a complaint his friend, a 20-year-old woman, had lodged with Salt Lake's cyber crime police station almost a year ago.

An officer said Sharma managed to avoid suspicion for almost a year because he had helped the woman file the complaint and regularly enquired with investigators about the progress in the case.

"We did not suspect him at first. He came across as smart and suave. Initially, we thought he was trying to help us," an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.

"Even the woman did not suspect him as he was the one who had alerted her about the fake accounts," he said.

Sharma had opened eight fake accounts in the woman's name and would post her and her sister's mobile phone numbers and her morphed pictures on them, the officer said.

Investigators tracked him down through his digital footprint. Another officer said he had sent the woman a friend request on her Facebook account two years ago. They exchanged phone numbers and met several times, the officer said.

But after a few months, the girl spurned his advances. "Sharma told us that he did all this to keep in touch with her. He claimed that he had hoped to woo her by pretending to help her," the officer said.

Sharma, booked for stalking, will be produced in a Salt Lake court tomorrow.

Biker injured

A motorcyclist was severely injured after he lost control and rammed the two-wheeler into the divider on the Bypass near Hyatt Regency early today, police said.

Police said Jatin Kumar Gupta, 33, originally from Bihar's Katihar, flew off the motorcycle and landed on the road after hitting the divider.

He was taken to NRS hospital and later shifted to a private hospital with multiple injuries.