Mumbai: The Santacruz police on Monday arrested a struggling actor for allegedly stalking and harassing actor Katrina Kaif and issuing a death threat to her actor-husband Vicky Kaushal. The accused, Manvinder Singh, who calls himself a die-hard fan of Kaif, was allegedly upset because she married Kaushal, the police said.
The investigations were initiated into the matter after Kaushal registered a complaint on Sunday. He stated that Singh had been sending him messages on Instagram as well as calling him and threatening to kill him, while at the same time stalking his wife.
“He kept messaging Kaif, asking her to marry him as well as to give him acting opportunities as he is a struggling actor himself. The messages had been coming for the last two months, and turned into death threats recently,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.
After receiving the complaint, the police analysed the social media account that Singh had been using, and found that he had posted several pictures in which he had morphed Kaushal’s face with his own. Based on the details of his Instagram account, the police identified him and traced him to a hotel in Santacruz, from where he was arrested.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IX) Manjunath Singe confirmed the arrest and said that Singh has been booked for criminal intimidation and stalking under the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
Sources at the police station said that Singh is currently unemployed, staying in hotels or lodges with money borrowed from his parents and trying to make a mark in the Hindi film industry. The police have seized his cell phone, and have also retrieved the morphed photos from his account.
“We are still finding out how he got Kaushal’s number. As he, too, is connected to the film industry, he may have obtained it from his contacts,” the officer added.
