An Indian immigrant ACT public servant allegedly stalked a woman he met on a dating app, and threatened to use government databases to find out information about her.
Suyash Sinha, 31, who obtained Australian citizenship just last week, was refused bail on stalking charges after facing a magistrates court in Canberra on Wednesday.
The court heard Sinha asked the woman to be in a relationship with him in January 2026, but when she said no he continued to message her, Region Canberra reported.
In August he allegedly messaged her describing what she was wearing at the supermarket where he worked a second job, and told her he was there too.
The woman finally agreed to see him in person to tell him to leave her alone, but when they met at a pub he allegedly told her he worked in finance for the ACT government, and told her the name of one of her siblings, who she had never mentioned.
“Anyone could be looked up in government systems,” he allegedly said, causing the woman to feel afraid and leave.
Sinha then allegedly began sending her multiple friend requests from different social media apps every day in September, from accounts with names including “willbeseeingyousoonnoworry”, “riskingitallforyousexy[her name]”, “Ihateyousomuchgoodbye”, and “sexy[her name]forpresident”.
A prosecutor told the court Sinha was “fixated” on the woman and had “refused to accept no in response to his advances”, leaving the woman “terrified”.
Sinah’s lawyer asked for bail, saying her client had no criminal history, was not actually able to access the woman’s private information through his ACT public service role, and financially supported his family in India.
But Special Magistrate Lucinda Wilson refused bail, noting that the woman had never shown an interest in Sinha, and that he had allegedly completely disregarded her wishes.
“You have [allegedly] not respected her desire for you to leave her alone,” she told him.
“It’s [allegedly] not a one-off attempt, but a real campaign of persistence and, I would say, harassment.”
Sinha has not entered a plea, and will face court again on November 4.
Header image credit: ACT Courts.
