IIT grad held for issuing rape threats against Kohli's daughter

Hyderabad: An IIT graduate from Hyderabad has been arrested by Mumbai Police for allegedly tweeting explicit rape threats at the ten-month-old daughter of Indian cricketer Virat Kohli. The man, identified as 23-year-old Ramnagesh Akubathini, has been booked by the cyber police station at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), under the Indian Penal Code sections for sexual harassment, intimidation, defamation, and violations of IT Act sections 67, 67(B) (punishment for publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in the sexually explicit act, in electronic form).

Akubathini was part of the online troll campaign that targeted Virat Kohli for his coming out in support of fellow teammate Mohammed Shami, who was facing abuse on the basis of his religion after India lost against Pakistan during the ICC World Cup.

According to police, the arrested techie had used fake accounts, display pictures and names to throw investigators off the track, tweeting threats from a handle that bore a picture of the Pakistani cricket team in order to allay suspicions. The Delhi Commission for Women has also taken suo motu note of the tweet on the basis of media reports and asked New Delhi police to register an FIR and arrest the accused.

Ramnagesh Akubathini, a software engineer and a resident of the Sangareddy area in Telangana, was arrested by a special team of the Mumbai Police on Wednesday. His family has denied any knowledge of the incident or the motivations behind it. According to reports, Akubathini is a former software engineer who quit his job to pursue a PhD.