Man harasses IAS officer over confidential information, FIR lodged

A woman IAS officer on Tuesday lodged a complaint against an anonymous person for allegedly harassing her by posing as a government official over WhatsApp intending to extract “confidential information” from her, Delhi Police said on Thursday.

The complaint was lodged in the national capital earlier this week. According to the Delhi Police, IAS officer Garima Gupta lodged her complaint two days ago, alleging that someone threatened and harassed her after posing as a government official and also tried to extract confidential information about her department. The lodged FIR stated that when Gupta confronted the accused person by warning him of a police complaint, he replied that he was using a SIM card using false documents and hence the police would not be able to trace him.

The said person also tried to impersonate a senior government official when he talked to her. The FIR added that this person keeps on changing his assumed name on WhatsApp in an attempt to impersonate someone else in order to cheat the person he calls.

The IAS officer has further in her FIR urged the police to book her complaint under section 66D (Punishment for Cheating by Personation by using Computer Resources) of the Information Technology Act, along with sections 419 (Punishment for Cheating by Personation), 467 (Forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), and 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating). The Indian Penal Code has sections 471 (Using a forged [document or electronic record] as genuine), 473 (Making or possessing a counterfeit seal, etc., with intent to commit forgery punishable otherwise), and 509 (Word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).