The Mumbai police’s crime branch on Tuesday arrested a 24-year-old man for allegedly stalking his friend on Instagram using a fake profile and threatening to circulate private photos and video of her on social media, an official said. Based on a complaint lodged by the 23-year-old victim, the police nabbed the accused from Kalwa in neighbouring Thane city, the official said.

The victim had lodged a complaint at Borivali police station on September 6 alleging that she was being stalked by an unidentified man on Instagram, who was threatening to circulate her private photographs on social media, he said. The complainant also alleged that the man had recorded an objectionable video of her during a video call and was threatening to circulate the same, the official said.

The police registered an offence under relevant sections of the IPC and the Information Technology Act and in the course of the investigation, zeroed in on the accused, who turned out to be her college friend, he said. On interrogation, the accused revealed that he had been in touch with the victim since college days and had somehow managed to access her email id and password, the official said.

The accused had found photos of the victim with another friend and angered by this, he created a fake profile on Instagram and started harassing her, the official said..