Realtor held for pestering Sneha

A 34-year-old real estate businessman, who was allegedly stalking South Indian actress Sneha by bombarding her with SMS messages and phone calls pestering her to marry him, was arrested by the police here on Saturday.The arrest came after the actor complained to City Police Commissioner T Rajendran last week, alleging that Bangalore-based Raghavendra had been harassing her for the last six months after she spurned his proposal. For the city’s Cyber Crime Cell (CCC), this is the first case after it was upgraded as a ‘Cyber Crime Forensic Laboratory, a couple of day back. Assistant Commissioner, CCC, Dr Sudhakar told Express that the actor received more than 100 SMS messages from Raghavendra, who claimed be a chartered accountant running a real estate business in Bangalore. For the last one year, Raghavendra collected all information he could about the ‘Autograph’ star and also followed her everywhere. He managed to get her mobile number from his friends in the Tamil film industry and started calling her. Eventually, he compelled her to marry him.The actor plainly refused, but the obsessed man was unrelenting, Sudhakar said. “She changed her mobile phones several times, but he always managed to find her number,” he added. Sneha’s manager John told Express that Raghavendra came to them seven months ago, offering to make ‘Autograph-II’ with the actor. They told him to meet the film’s director Cheran, who later called them to say that Raghavendra did not have the capacity to make a film.“We advised him to go back to Bangalore,” he said. “But he refused and started sending SMS messages and greeting cards to Sneha. He made some 300 calls to her, asking her to marry to him. It was sheer torture and harassment and she was terribly upset.” When she thought enough was enough, she called the police chief and a trap was laid for Raghavendra. John said they told him to come down to Chennai so that they could meet and sort out the whole matter and he agreed.On Saturday, the manager and Sneha’s uncle met Raghavendra at a business class hotel in Pondy Bazaar around 4 pm and the police were tipped off about the meeting. A special team swooped on the businessman and arrested and booked him under the Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act. “The man told us that he was planning to buy Pyramid Saimira, but at the time of arrest we found that he had only Rs 166 balance in his mobile phone,” John said. Sudhakar said they were extracting date from the mobile phones to establish prima facie evidence and if proved guilty Raghavendra could end up with a seven-year-term for the offence under the Act.