Net sleaze: woman held for creating a fake Instagram profile of a female engineering student

TT, Feb. 10: A woman was arrested last evening on the charge of creating a fake Instagram profile of a female engineering student using her private photos without her knowledge.

Police picked up the second-year botany honours student from her home in Dum Dum.

The two women didn't know each other but the botany student's male friend knew the other woman, the police said. The student probably accessed the photos through her friend's mobile phone with the intention of maligning the complainant who was once close to her friend, the police said.

The third-year computer science student, who lives on the city's southern fringe, had lodged a complaint with the cyber police station in Lalbazar last October when she stumbled upon her fake profile.

An investigator said she had once shared some of her private photos with the friend. "After their friendship broke down, the man became close to the botany student. It is apparent that she accessed the photos from his mobile phone and created her fake profile posting objectionable contents," he said.

Cops zeroed in on the botany student by tracking the internet protocol address of the device that was used to create the fake profile.

Two mobile phones, multiple SIM cards, a memory card and two hard discs were seized from her.

She was produced in court today and remanded in judicial custody.