Meerut : A 26-year-old chemical analyst was arrested by Bareilly cyber police on Thursday for allegedly running a fake Instagram account using the photograph of a deceased sub-inspector and posting casteist and obscene comments about a woman, police said.
The incident had earlier triggered criticism of Bareilly police after the objectionable posts were widely circulated on social media.
The SSP ordered an inquiry, which was handed over to the cybercrime police station and an FIR under Section 67 of the IT Act was registered at Kotwali police station on Sept 14 on a complaint by Kutubkhana outpost in-charge Anoop Singh. Sections 66C of the IT Act and 319(2) (cheating by personation) and 356 (defamation) of BNS were subsequently added, police said.
Bareilly SSP Anurag Arya told TOI, “Deepak Kaushik, a resident of Ratupura village in Bijnor, had created an Instagram account named “Deepak Jat Bareilly” using a photograph of Akash Yadav , a sub-inspector posted in Ayodhya who died in a road accident while on night patrol several months ago. Arya said Kaushik used the account to post objectionable remarks about a woman named Neha Bharti and the posts were widely circulated, drawing abusive comments targeting Bareilly police. He was arrested near Jhumka Chauraha,” Arya said. During questioning, Kaushik allegedly told police that he believed using a police officer’s photograph would deflect suspicion and conceal his identity. He deleted the account after the controversy escalated, but investigators had already traced him using digital evidence, police said. Kaushik works as a chemical analyst at DBOL Sugar Mill in Meerganj, where he was residing, police said, adding that a smartphone and the two SIM cards allegedly used to operate the account were recovered from his possession.
“Using electronic evidence, surveillance and IMEI details, the cybercrime team traced two mobile numbers linked to the fake account, both numbers registered in Kaushik’s name.