A team of Mumbai police arrested a youth on charges of stalking and harassing the daughter of former India cricket captain Sachin Tendulkar from his home in East Midnapore today.
The 32-year-old, identified as Debkumar Maity, a class XII dropout, is locally known to be an artist. He is said to have made at least 20 calls to Tendulkar’s residence and passed lewd comments about his daughter Sara and even threatened to kidnap her.
The Mumbai police team, which got a transit remand from a court at Haldia, is taking him to Mumbai for further questioning.
Bhimsen Gaikowar, a member of the team said that Maity had made several phone calls to Sara proposing marriage. “He also made several lewd comments during his phone calls and even went to the extent of threatening to kidnap her if she rejected his proposal,” Gaikowar said. The phone calls were made to the landline number at Tendulkar’s residence.
A complaint in this regard was filed at Bandra police station in Mumbai. “We tracked the number, contacted West Bengal police and finally arrested him on Sunday,” Gaikowar said.
Debkumar’s family members claimed that he was mentally ill for months and he often tormented his parents. “We had no idea how he was embroiled in this. Even at home he used to torment his parents. He lost his father recently. He has been undergoing medical treatment for his condition for the last eight years,” a relative said. A diary has also been found in Debkumar’s home in which he has scribbled Sara’s name.
Debkumar told police that he had seen Sara in the pavilion of a cricket stadium in Mumbai and collected the number through one of his relatives. Admitting that he had made several calls, Debkumar said that there was nothing wrong in his desire to marry Sara. Asked if he knew Sachin Tendulkar, he smiled and said, “He is my father-in-law.”
Police would investigate how he managed to get his hands on the numbers and a medical team will look into his mental condition.