GRP cops plant obscene MMS clips on to victim's phone and extort cash, gold by threatening him with 5-yr jail term
GRP cops plant obscene MMS clips on to victim's phone and extort cash, gold by threatening him with 5-yr jail term
It was a Christmas that Jignesh Shah (name changed) will not forget in a hurry.
Government Railway Police (GRP) constables at Dadar terminus allegedly cornered Shah in an attempt to extort money and valuables from him yesterday.
The ploy they used to extort was an MMS porn clip. Here's what happened according to a friend of the victim. Shah was already on the train to Tirupati and could not be contacted.
His friend said that Shah was to take a train to Tirupati at around 2.15 pm yesterday, but as the tickets were not confirmed, he came to Dadar to check the reservation status an hour before the train arrived.
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As he entered the station, two GRP personnel at the entrance stopped him and told him to get his luggage scanned and right then, got Shah to handover the phone.
As the luggage was being scanned and Shah waited, the cops suddenly cornered him saying there was a porn clip on his phone and threatened to slap a case on him warning him that it attracted a five-year jail term and a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
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"They refused to listen to him and forced him to part with whatever money he had on him. They then took him to an ATM and made him withdraw Rs 12,800 and part with his gold rings," said the friend, who did not want to be named.
After Shah was allowed to go, his friends informed political workers from a party office nearby, who arrived and cornered the policemen.
Realising that the situation was going out of hand, the Matunga police was informed and both the victim and the policemen were taken to the police station.
According to eyewitnesses, the policemen returned the valuables and cash, but pressured him not to register a complaint, which he obeyed.
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HARASSMENT: Dadar terminus where the incident occurred |
Senior PI Shivaji Shinde of the Dadar Railway Police completely denied the incident. "Nothing like this happened. There must be some misunderstanding.
However, we have made an entry in the station diary as some people claimed that the cops had taken money, but no complainant has come forward to register a complaint."
Senior PI Sunil Deshmukh of the Matunga police station added, "Yes, there was an incident at Dadar station yesterday, but we have not registered a complaint as the incident happened inside the Dadar Railway station and it has been registered by the Dadar GRP."
| Not The First Time |
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Several allegations and complaints about GRP personnel extorting money from unsuspecting passengers for possessing porn clips have been made earlier too.
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In fact, a written complaint against certain GRP personnel is lying with the Railway Protection Force (RPF) of the Central Railway.
In case policemen do not find anything objectionable on the phone, they switch on the blue tooth feature and send a porn clip from their own phone and insist that the passenger already had it in his inbox.
The Law Says
A person could be charged for simply possessing obscene content under the Information Technology (IT) Act.
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Even if somebody else has sent the MMS or the porn clip, you could be liable for prosecution under the IT Act for having it on your phone.
An SMS is considered to be an electronic record since a mobile phone is a computer under Section 2 of the IT Act.
Under the Act, an obscene SMS could result in a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh and five years' imprisonment.
A second-time offence can land the convict in prison for up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 2 lakh.
Rogue Policemen
SPS Rathore: The ex-Haryana DGP molested 14-year-old Ruchika, a budding tennis player, in 1990.
She committed suicide three years later by consuming poison.
After 19 years, Rathore was let off with a 6-month jail term.u00a0
Saji Mohan: Mohan, an IPS officer, has been accused of dealing in drugs. He was a zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau.
R K Sharma: An IG rank IPS officer, Sharma was found guilty of murdering journalist Shivani Bhatnagar, after their affair went wrong. |
