13-year-old fools Uttar Pradesh cops into solving his father's pending case

Screenshot of the boy's tweets

A 13-year-old boy from Gorakhpur has left the UP police red-faced after getting them cracking on a complaint through a fake ID of State DGP Om Prakash Singh, no less. While the police were left seething over the con, the boy's mission - to get his aggrieved father his money back from a cheating travel agent - has been accomplished.

Money dispute
According to Rahul Srivastava, additional superintendent of police (PRO) UP police, it all started seven months ago, when the boy's father registered a complaint with the local police against a travel agent who had promised to send his elder son abroad. He had paid the agent Rs 45,000, but, the agent failed to keep his word and even refused to return the money. Ever since, the father had been desperately trying to recover the money. "Upset with the police inaction and his father's struggle, the boy decided to try and help. He created a fake Twitter ID of DGP Singh," the police said.

Through this fake Twitter handle, he issued directions to senior police officers, directing them to take action on the complaint as per law and keep him informed about the developments. The cops went into a tizzy after spotting the DGP's message and summoned the travel agent, ordering him to pay back the boy's father. The agent has paid back Rs 30,000 so far.

Smelling a rat
While the police had no idea they had been following the instructions of a fake ID, the DGP's office smelled a rat. They realised that the message had been flashed from a Twitter ID @OmPrakashdgp, while the official DGP twitter ID is @dgpup. The DGP's office then alerted the Asrarganj police station in Munger district, Lucknow, where an FIR was lodged and the Cyber Cell of the Lucknow police were asked to find out about the fake twitter account.

Tracing the culprit
Srivastava said, "The police got a lot of help from Twitter, which officially reverted to a request seeking information on the creator of the fake Twitter ID. As it is mandatory to register a mobile number, on which an OTP (one time password) is sent, in order to create a twitter account, the cops got their hands on the culprit's number."

A senior police officer from the Cyber Cell of the Lucknow police said, "The cops traced the number to a juvenile from Gorakhpur whose father is a shopkeeper dealing in spare parts."

The clue
The boy, however, denied all knowledge about the fake Twitter ID. He, however, told the police that his friend, who lives in the neighbourhood, used to constantly play with his mobile phone. The cops finally found their culprit last Saturday and were shocked to see it was a 13-year-old who had got them on their toes. The boy's father was understandably shocked to learn of his involvement.

The confession
When summoned, the boy was very casual about what he had done and had no idea about the gravity of the situation. A police officer said, "He had very cleverly gone about creating the fake Twitter account through his friend's mobile number, so that his own identity could be protected in case of a police inquiry."

He said, "The boy is no doubt quite intelligent for his age, as he had formatted the laptop he had used to send the tweets. He, however, forgot to delete the screenshots and the cyber police cracked the case through this evidence."

Juvenile, hence let off
"We had to let the boy go without taking any action. Had he been an adult, he would have been immediately taken into custody. The offence in which he could have been charged would have attracted punishment of no less than seven years for violation of IT Act and also the IPC offence of impersonation," said a police officer. Attempts made to contact DGP Singh were unsuccessful. His office said he was away in Delhi for a meeting.

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