k'taka man held for sending obscene texts to women - The Asian Age

The city police crime branch has arrested a 31-year old computer tutor from Karnataka for allegedly harassing leading film actresses, models and businesswomen by sending them obscene messages on their cellphones. The probe revealed that the accused had victimised more than 30 such women across the country over the period of six months, sources said.

The arrested accused has been identified as Harish Padmanabha Bhatt, a resident of Kalinga, Udipi, Karnataka. Bhatt is a diploma holder in computers and had worked as computer tutor in the past. The police has seized a laptop, a dual Sim card cellphone, two Sim cards, and an MTS data card that he allegedly used in committing the offence.
The police initiated an initial probe in the matter after the joint commissioner of police (crime) received some complaints from a few film actresses, models and businesswomen.
After one of the victims approached the Nehru Nagar police and lodged an offence under Sections 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC and relevant sections of the IT Act in this regard, the crime branch unit-8 was handed over the investigation of the case. A team of policemen comprising PI Deepak Phatangre, Jyotsna Rasam, API Sanjay More and others, then recently succeeded in nabbing the accused, who was later identified as Bhatt.
"He said that he got the cellphone numbers from some Internet websites. He would then send them lewd text messages in the night using Chinese handsets," said a crime branch officer, who is part of the investigation team.