In a disturbing case of cyber sexual harassment, Dahisar Police have arrested a well-educated man for sending obscene and defamatory emails to a 30-year-old woman he knew personally. According to police, the accused misused his technological skills to hide his identity and target the woman following a personal dispute.
The woman, a senior executive at a private company, lives in Dahisar. Since November last year, she had been receiving emails filled with explicit content and defamatory remarks. These emails also contained private details about her life. The sender had concealed his identity using advanced cyber tools, making it hard for authorities to track him.
Troubled by the harassment, the woman filed a complaint at the Dahisar police station. Police registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act. The charges include sexual harassment, defamation, and sharing obscene material.
Investigations showed that the accused used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to hide his digital trail. This made tracking his location difficult. To make matters worse, he also created a fake Instagram account using the woman’s name, aiming to damage her reputation.
With help from cyber experts, police launched a technical investigation. They requested data from Google and Instagram. This led them to a Gmail recovery account linked to the emails. After analyzing the IP address, officers identified four possible users. One of them was the accused.
The accused was identified as Mohit Shah, 47, a neighbor who once treated the woman like a sister. Shah had returned to India from England in 2021 after a dispute with his wife and had been living with his parents in Dahisar. During this time, he grew close to the woman and often behaved protectively towards her.
During last year’s Navratri celebrations, Shah objected to her playing dandiya late at night and to her spending time with male friends. This led to arguments. Police believe these disputes pushed him to take revenge.
Shah used his knowledge of IT and access to old work resources to create a fake online identity. He sent the abusive emails and set up the fake Instagram profile to further humiliate the woman. Shah is currently in police custody as the investigation continues.
