Mumbai:
A lawyer accused of sending obscene text messages to several women was arrested by the Crime Branch on Tuesday after evading arrest for more than three years.
His modus operandi was so shrewd that the Mumbai Police had almost given up on his arrest despite more than 10 cases being registered against him by different complainants.
Omprakash Dubey (26), who practices at Bandra Court, had bought as many as 19 SIM cards using the documents and photograph of one of his unsuspecting clients.
He used to call up cellphone numbers at random and would hang up if it was answered by a man. If a woman answered, however, he would make vulgar statements and try and strike up a conversation.
"When the women on the other end hung up, he would begin pestering them by sending lewd text messages.
His phone records have revealed that he would make at least 100-150 such calls and send out as many messages on an everyday basis.
He did not limit himself to the city and called up women in other cities as well," said Assistant Police Inspector Chimmaji Adov of Crime Branch Unit 11.
"The case came to us six months back and the Mumbai Police had been trying to trace him for close to three years. He was difficult to trace because he is a shrewd operator and kept changing his location to avoid getting caught. He even used public call offices in the beginning. He was finally arrested from Kandivli yesterday. He has been charged with obscenity-related sections of the IPC and is in police custody," added Adov.