CHENNAI: In a first, a man from Trichy in Tamil Nadu has been arrested on charges of cyberstalking a US citizen, besides harassing and threatening her by flooding her with obscene messages.
The 37-year-old Gift Jesubalan Selvanayagam of Trichy was arrested by the Cyber Crime Cell of the Central Crime Branch (CCB), Greater Chennai Police, on Friday on a formal complaint lodged by the US Consulate in Chennai.
According to police, Gift Jesubalan Selvanayagam befriended the US national on a social networking site over a year ago, and they stayed in touch with each other via emails and other digital modes. During the period he had filmed her without her knowledge.
Later, he started to make extortion demands by sending obscene messages and images. He issued her threats saying he would post them on social media portals. The harassment persisted for the past few months.
As her repeated attempts to ignore his messages and emails went in vain, she lodged a formal complaint at a police station in the US. The complaint details, along with the identity of the offender, were then shared with the US consulate office in Chennai through their foreign affairs department.
Based on the complaint, inspector of police A Menaga, attached to the cyber crime police station, initiated a probe, analysed the digital evidence and arrested the suspect from his Trichy residence on Friday. Police also seized multiple electronic devices, including a smartphone, laptop and a tablet, used for the commission of the crime.
Gift Jesubalan Selvanayagam was produced before the XI metropolitan magistrate court at Saidapet and remanded in judicial custody. He was later lodged at the central prison in Puzhal.
The Chennai city commissioner of police, A Arun, later issued a statement, emphasising that cyberstalking and online harassment are grave offences that carry strict legal consequences. He urged victims to promptly report such crimes through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) or approach the nearest cyber crime police station.