Australia NRI in Punjab: Came for his Wedding, Left with a Stalker — Tormented for 4 Years
Australia NRI, who came to his home in Punjab for his wedding, faces cyber harassment for four years — morphed photos, death threats, obscene messages
Arvind Chhabra
Chandigarh, May 14
An Australia NRI in his 20s had come home to Punjab for his wedding. He returned to Australia in May 2019 as a newlywed. What followed him back was four years of relentless cyber harassment — morphed photographs, obscene messages, death threats, and a tormentor who knew exactly where his elderly, ailing parents were at any given moment in their village in Fatehgarh Sahib.
A court in India has now denied anticipatory bail to the man accused of running that campaign. The judge in an order this week held that custodial interrogation of the accused was essential and dismissed the petition filed by the latter.
Australia NRI, and the harassment for 4 years
The Australia NRI, a resident of South Australia, had settled there since November 2018. He returned to India in April 2019 for his marriage and flew back to Australia in May. Almost immediately, threatening and abusive messages began arriving on his Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp accounts from unknown numbers.
When he blocked those accounts and created new ones, the harassment followed. The person behind it appeared to have intimate knowledge of the family — tracking the daily movements of the Australian NRI parents at their village home in District Fatehgarh Sahib, and sharing that information with him as a form of intimidation. Threats were made that his parents would be killed in the village, and that the Australian NRI himself would be killed.
What made the threats particularly chilling: The NRI had received a kidney transplant in 2012, donated by his father, and has since lived on medication. His father, now elderly, has his own health issues. His mother is an asthmatic. Both live alone in their village.
Parents senior citizens
In his complaint to police, the NRI noted that his parents are senior citizens who recognise people slowly, and that the harasser appeared to be someone from their close social circle — in one message, the name of his real uncle’s son was shown as a next of kin.
The harassment escalated over time. A morphed photograph of the NRI was used as a display picture on one of the WhatsApp numbers used by the harasser, with defamatory text superimposed on it. Obscene photographs were sent to him with false claims that they were of his wife. The campaign ran from May 2019 to July 2023 — over four years.
The NRI filed a complaint with the Additional Director General of Police, NRI Wing, Punjab, in July 2023. After inquiry, an FIR was registered at an NRI Police Station in 2024, under Sections 66(C), 67, and 67(A) of the Information Technology Act. Punjab also has a department of NRI affairs.
How the accused was traced
Suspicion fell on a man, who had a past relationship with the NRI’s wife. He was joined into investigation in January 2026. During interrogation, he admitted using three of the suspicious phone numbers. He denied one — but investigators found that the OTP verification for that number had been carried out through a mobile registered in his name, with his photograph in the KYC documents.
On the basis of this technical evidence, he was formally named as an accused in March 2026. Two courts have dismissed his anticipatory bail application –first in April and now in May.
Why the Court refused bail
The judge noted that the technical evidence prima facie connected the accused to the offences. The court held that custodial interrogation was necessary for a thorough investigation, observing that an accused shielded by pre-arrest bail would not disclose all facts within his knowledge.
The court found no exceptional or extraordinary circumstances warranting anticipatory bail and dismissed the petition.
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