A teen who downloaded a woman’s profile photo from WhatsApp and shared it on mobile phone application for the gay community with obscene comments was traced by the victim’s family members and handed over to police in Tiruverkadu.
Illustration: Saai
Chennai:
It all started on September 8 when the victim went to a bakery to order a cake for her kin’s birthday. D Venkatesh, who worked in the bakery, insisted on getting the victim’s phone number to deliver the cake. However, from the next day, the victim started getting several obscene messages, videos and calls asking her if she is ‘available’.
The shocked victim and her family members spoke to the callers and found out that her photo and phone number were uploaded on ‘Blued’, a dating app for the gay community.
The victim’s family then approached the cyber cell of Ambattur cybercrime and registered a complaint that unidentified persons have uploaded her photo and phone number on a website. The family didn’t stop at that and even as police were investigating the case, continued with their inquiry to pin down the culprits.
Posing as a girl, one of the victim’s kin constantly messaged to the profile on which the photo had been shared, only to be replied with obscene videos and photos. Unrelenting, the person continued messaging and finally persuaded the accused to share his photo and phone number.
The accused, who was convinced that it was a woman who is talking to, shared his photo and phone number. They made a call to the accused and found out that he is D Venkatesh of Villupuram who works at the bakery where the woman ordered the cake. He was secured and handed over to police on Saturday. Police have seized his phone and three SIM cards. Further investigation is on.