PUNE: The Chikhali police arrested a 19-year-old youth for creating a fake profile of a medical student (25) on a social media platform using her old cellphone number and collecting Rs 56,000 from her acquaintances by claiming she was in trouble.
A police team took the youth, Shubham Hava from Rahatani, in custody on Monday. Probe revealed that Hava had stolen a motorcycle from Latur district. The medical student had lodged an FIR with the Chikhali police on October 20. “The complainant’s cellphone number, inactive for more than six months, was allotted to Hava. When Hava activated the mobile messaging service, he started receiving messages from the complainant’s acquaintances,” Vithhal Badhe, sub-inspector, Chikhali police, told TOI.
“Hava created a fake account of the woman on a mobile messaging service and started sending messages to the complainant’s contact, claiming that the complainant was in trouble and needed money,” he said. Hava collected Rs56,000 from the complainant’s acquaintances.