The accused, who had been harassing at least 3 women, allegedly kept a separate SIM card just to torment his victims, which made nabbing him a little difficult for the police

The Byculla police arrested a 46-year-old businessman for allegedly stalking and harassing at least three women by sending them vulgar messages. The accused allegedly kept a separate SIM card just for harassing his victims, which made nabbing him a little difficult for the police.



Juzar Abaz Poonawala

The accused, Juzar Abaz Poonawala, a resident of Grant Road, had been harassing one of his victims, a 41-year-old woman from Byculla, for the past six months. Assistant Police Inspector (API) Yunus Shaikh, from Byculla police station, said, “The 41-year-old complainant had even changed her SIM card because of the harassment, but the accused managed to get hold of her new number.”

“The complaint was registered on December 19 by the 41-year-old, but Poonawala was very difficult to trace as he inserted the SIM card only to send vulgar messages. Thus, we waited for him to send the next message,” added Shaikh.

Poonawala inserted the SIM card in his phone on Sunday to send lewd messages to the complainant, and the police traced his location. “A team consisting of constables Santosh Shelar, Shivaji Korvi, Govind Gawari, Raj Padve, Kishor Patil, and Umesh Landge was sent to his Grant Road residence immediately, and he was picked up,” said Shaikh.

Poonawala’s cellphone and SIM card were seized, and the police learnt that he had been harassing at least two other women. He has been booked under Section 354 (D) (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code, along with Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act. He was produced in court on Monday and bail was granted.