Delhi: Woman held for impersonation, cyberstalking after suspecting husband of extramarital relationship

A 26-year-old woman has been apprehended for allegedly impersonating and stalking another woman by creating a fake social media account using her photographs, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, a resident of Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, was allegedly driven by suspicion over her husband’s past acquaintance with the complainant.

The woman stole pictures from the victim’s social media handle and used them to create a fake account in her name, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Raja Banthia said in a statement.

The complainant, a 30-year-old woman from Delhi, had approached the cyber police of north Delhi with a complaint that an unknown person had created a fake social media profile impersonating her and was attempting to contact her friends and colleagues through it, he said.

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Based on her complaint, an FIR was registered and further investigation was taken up during which police obtained details of the fake account and conducted a technical analysis.

“Surveillance revealed that the SIM card linked to the fake account was issued in Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. Further analysis helped trace the current location of the accused to Nangloi in Delhi,” said the DCP.

A team conducted a search operation and apprehended the accused from Nangloi. A mobile phone and SIM card used in the offence were recovered from her possession.

During interrogation, she confessed that she grew suspicious after her husband, whom she married in 2023, shared a photo with friends in which the complainant also appeared. Her husband also followed the complainant on social media, which led her to believe he might be interested in her, the police claimed.

To confirm her suspicions, she allegedly sent inappropriate messages to the complainant from her husband’s account, which resulted in the complainant blocking him, they said.

She later created a fake account using the complainant’s name and pictures, collected from mutual contacts, to see if her husband would engage with it. However, her husband was unaware of the fake profile, the DCP said, adding that further investigation in the case is underway.

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