Man fakes Girish Bapat’s cyber profile, posts porn content

Mumbai: The cyber cell of the Pune Police has arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly creating a fake account of Maharashtra food and civil supplies minister Girish Bapat on a social networking site and posting nude pictures and other objectionable content on it. The cops are yet to ascertain the motive behind the act.

According to the police, the accused has been identified as Ruturaj Nalawade (30), a resident of Junnar tehsil in Pune district.

The police is questioning him to find out why he had created the account specifically in Bapat’s name and whether he had created other fake accounts too.

They have also seized his computer, CDs and diaries and will send them for forensic tests.

Sunil Mane, Bapat’s publicity consultant, who manages the BJP leader’s social media accounts, registered a case with the police.

“The complainant had further mentioned that the accused used Bapat’s photos for creating the account and projected it as genuine,” the official said.

He also allegedly sent friend requests to people who are known to the minister and is even believed to have tagged some of Mr Bapat’s friends with the objectionable pictures posted by him.  

Cyber crime DCP Sudhir Hiremath told The Asian Age, “Some of the people even accepted the friend request presuming it was coming from Bapat, who is also the guardian minister of Pune district. After receiving the complaint, they sought details of the account from the social networking site and informed Bapat about the same.”

He said, “We created a team and started a search for the accused and within two days we arrested Nalawade, who has been booked under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and section 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Under section 500 of IPC, a person faces imprisonment for up to two years. But we are still investigating the motive behind creating such a fake profile and whether he has created similar accounts of other well-known persons.”