Man held for sending lewd messages, videos to 1,500 females

A 31-year-old man, who was apparently annoyed over not getting married, allegedly tormented around 1,500 women and girls in Delhi-NCR by sending them vulgar messages and obscene video clips through WhatsApp and was arrested, police said on Thursday.

Examining the mobile phones used by the accused, police stumbled upon contacts of more than 1,500 women and girls who were put through "perpetual trauma" and "mental agony" by him. Altogether, the accused had phone numbers of 2,000 women and girls living in the Delhi national capital region (NCR), they said.

A police team investigating a case registered on May 30 by a woman at Ashok Vihar police station in north west Delhi, arrested accused Mohammad Khalid from his father's bag shop in Sadar Bazar area, said Vijay Singh, DCP (north west).

Police found all the obscene messages and video clips sent by the accused to his victims, stored in the mobile phones. It also included his messages to the complainant from Ashok Vihar, he said.

During interrogation, Khalid said he used to make random calls on Delhi NCR mobile numbers. If the call was received by a woman or a girl, he used to save it and then through WhatsApp viewed their profile picture. If he liked the woman or girl, he would start sending vulgar messages and obscene video clips through WhatsApp, said the officer.

Investigating the FIR registered at Ashok Vihar, a police team found that the complainant received the vulgar, abusive messages from two mobile numbers. The names and addresses were found to be fake.

Searching for a clue, the police team reached Sadar Bazar area from where the SIM cards were purchased and he often got his phone recharged.

Further enquiries and investigation led the cops to Khalid, who at first tried to bluff the police but admitted to his offence when confronted with facts, the DCP said.

Most of his victims avoided approaching police perhaps due to his threat to malign their image and out of fear of disclosing their identity, he said.

Khalid used the SIM cards obtained through the fake IDs, exclusively for sending messages and video clips to his victims.

He told police that he was unmarried and was frustrated as his friends had got married and were having children.

Cases were registered against him in Gurgaon (Haryana) and Uttam Nagar, Ashok Vihar and Usmanpur (all in Delhi). Complaints were also found lodged at women helpline numbers at different police stations in and around Delhi, they added.