E-bike rider held for stalking city woman for 5 years

NEW DELHI: A Telangana e-bike rider was arrested for stalking and harassing a woman for five years using different Instagram accounts . A woman complained on Aug 2 that she was harassed by Ravi Teja, a resident of Hyderabad who claimed to be an engineering graduate and had been riding an e-bike for the past six years, and stalked by him on Instagram. A case had been registered by police in New Delhi police district.

While TOI had reported about the incident on Aug 7, on Saturday, Devesh Kumar Mahla, DCP (New Delhi), said that during the investigation, the details of different Instagram accounts used by the culprit were obtained from the social media company. Based on the technical details, the culprit was tracked to Hyderabad. "We raided some areas in Hyderabad and arrested him," said Mahla.

Teja admitted to police his infatuation with the woman had escalated into stalking. He told the cops that his father was a farmer and he was the only college educated person in his family, but hadn't secured an engineering job. "He started riding e-bikes and was also looking for other jobs," an officer said. Another officer said that they would check his educational documents to verify his claims of being an engineering graduate. "We are checking whether he had harassed any other woman. So far we have found two Instagram accounts," the officer said.

In her complaint, the woman wrote that in 2019, she was in Hyderabad and had booked an e-bike service. After the ride, the woman received a phone message from Teja. She lodged a complaint with the e-bike service and his phone number was blocked.

However, Teja later created several social media accounts and started harassing her for five years. The woman repeatedly warned him to stop texting her and threatened to file a police complaint , but her pleas fell on deaf ears. The accused sent messages like "Do men ever leave?" and "They will remember their girl forever." He sent his love confessions and creepy assurances through different Insta IDs, swearing his love and promising her that he wouldn't leave her alone. He wouldn't take no for an answer.

One day, the accused told her that he had her private pictures. "This really disturbed me and made me conscious about my privacy. I started fearing that he would misuse my photos and blackmail me. I was traumatised by his actions and feared for my safety and security," the woman wrote in her complaint. This threat led the woman to tell her parents about the harassment and to eventually file a police complaint.