NEW DELHI: 23 Dec 2007

Delhi Police on Friday tracked down a serial stalker — a mechanical engineer from Delhi College of Engineering — who allegedly tormented hundreds of women across Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Gorakhpur.

Employed as a trainee engineer with a PSU in Bokaro, 30-year-old Vivek Kanwat stole mobile phones, made obscene calls to women and, when they resisted advances made by him, put up their morphed photographs on websites like Orkut.

Kanwat’s case was transferred to the crime branch after a number of women complained to Delhi police that their photographs and profiles describing them as prostitutes had sprung up on social networking websites.

The victims were mostly those who shared their photographs with him. Kanwat, who remained elusive for the past six months, was finally arrested from his Shalimar Bagh home late on Friday.

"We have seized six stolen mobile phones, 25 SIM cards and several fake identity documents from his home.

He also had telephone numbers of more than 20,000 women," said additional commissioner (crime) Satyendra Garg. Kanwat, a bachelor, told police he was infatuated with women as he did not have a girlfriend in college.

He, however, clearly knew how to evade cops, calling his victims only from stolen mobiles, with SIM cards obtained on fake identity proof. From these numbers, he allegedly called up women, made vulgar remarks and threatened them against informing the authorities.

By Shamsheer (TofI)