Mumbai, January 5: A social media influencer who used fake profiles with photos of beautiful women to lure her followers was arrested by the Bangur Nagar police for stealing their phones. She needed high-quality camera phones for her pictures, so she resorted to this crime, the police said. A case has been registered against her and further probe has been launched.
According to a report published by Mid Day, Sumaiyya Munir Malik (24) met a 27-year-old man from Thane on Instagram and agreed to meet him at a Malad West mall two months ago. She brought along a female friend, who left soon after an argument. Malik then took the man’s OnePlus phone worth Rs 35,000 and ran away, pretending to make a call. The man tried to call her, but her number was switched off. Mumbai: Instagram Influencer Apologises After Viral Video Shows Her Dancing While Lying Down on Railway Platform, Clip Surfaces.
The man then filed a complaint with the police. PSI Mahesh Kendre and his team started the investigation. They checked the CCTV footage and saw Malik getting into an auto-rickshaw, but they could not trace it. They also uploaded the details of the stolen phone to the CEIR website, which notified them when a new SIM card was inserted.
Malik was difficult to track down as she wore a burkha most of the time. She was finally nabbed in the Malwani area in Malad, where she admitted to the theft. The police also recovered another phone from her, which she had stolen in a similar way. Malik, who came from a humble background, was charged under sections 406, 420, and 34 of the IPC and sent to police custody after being produced in court. Ashesh Mehta Drug Case: Popular Finfluencer, His Wife Caught Running Rs 300 Crore Drug Network From Home in Goregaon, Lookout Notice Issued Against Couple.
Malik said she did not know much about her female friend, whom she had met recently. She confessed to creating multiple fake accounts on Instagram, using attractive photos that did not belong to her to increase her followers.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 05, 2024 06:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).