INDIA.Mumbai: The Cyber Cell of Mumbai Crime Branch on Saturday arrested a 29-year-old man and his two accomplices on charges of posting obscene videos on “Youtube” under the pretext of doing a “prank”.
The accused were identified as Mukesh Phulchand Gupta(29), a resident of Thane, Prince Kumar Raju Sav(23), and Jitendra Baichatram Gupta (25) both the residents of Kurar Village, Malad in North Mumbai.
An offense (CR No 16/2021) has been registered at Cyber Police Station, BKC, Bandra in northwest Mumbai. Four mobile phones, 5 laptop computers, and one camera have been seized from the accused. They have been booked under sections 292,294,509 and 34 Indian Penal Code, sections 67, 67 (B) of the Information Technology Act 2000 (as amended in 2008), sections 3 and 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and provisions of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986.
The accused used to give false information to the women who opted for these “prank” videos for some money, but later it turned out to be obscene pornographic videos. The accused used to call girls on behalf of actors and were given 500 to 1500 rupees for acting. These videos were shot at public places like Marine Lines in South Mumbai, Bandra Fort, Juhu beach in North West Mumbai, Aksa, Gorai beach, Balaji Garden, Kandivali in North Mumbai, and many other grounds of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The videos were of 10 to 15 minutes duration.
The Maharashtra State Commission for Women had alerted the Cyber Police about this gang luring girls and shooting such videos in Mumbai. Besides, five women including one minor had filed a complaint with the Cyber Cell. The offense was registered based on a complaint lodged by Heena Vijaykumar Kanojia. The complaint said that one of the victims thought of dying by suicide because her video was not deleted. Based on the complaint, Mumbai police registered a case.
The accused Mukesh Gupta who topped SSC exams with 98.5%, in 2008 is running a tuition class in Thane. Jitendra Gupta is in the second year of BHMS and Prince Kumar is in the second year of BMM. It was revealed during the investigation that Mukesh Gupta had also used the children studying in his tuition class.
The accused were running “YouTube” channels
Mukesh Gupta was running 17 YouTube channels and had several Facebook pages. He had uploaded around 300 “prank” videos which garnered 15 crore views and earned a revenue of Rs 2 crore. One of the channels was identified as ‘prank with Japes’. A police investigation found that the videos were priced between 2,000 and 3,000.
The Cyber police have made demands to block the FB pages and channels and have also sought information on why these channels were not blocked sub moto for obscene content earlier. Police have written to YouTube to stop such pornography channels and are investigating the case further.
The above crime was detected under supervision of Joint Commissioner (crime) of Police Milind Bharambe, Additional Police Commissioner Viresh Prabhu, DCP Rashmi Karandikar, ACP Nitin Jadhav, and Senior Police Inspector in charge Sharmila Sahasrabuddhe, by Police Inspector Mausami Patil, PSI Poonam Jadhav, Police constables Varsha Vetal, Vishnu Kale, Vijay Jadhav, and Ganesh Dhere.
“Gupta also used some of his students for this prank. One of the victims who came forward is a minor girl. We appeal to parents to be aware of their children’s activities. As many youngsters opted for the shoot for pocket money”, Bharambe said.
Fake Instagram account case
In another case, one Srirang Jagannath Shinde alias Ajay Kundulkar alias Ashish Pawar (30) was arrested on charges of blackmailing by posting nude pictures of a woman on a fake Instagram account.
Based on a complaint of the affected woman an offense (Cr No 43/2021) was registered at Dharavi Police station. Then the police laid a trap by asking the complainant to call the accused for discussion at National Park in Borivali in North Mumbai. No sooner the accused arrived on the spot, the police team led by officers Santosh Tapase and Ankush Jadhav swooped on him and arrested him.
The accused admitted to having committed the crime. He was booked under sections 354(A), 354(D), sections 66 (E), 67(A) of Information Technology Act 2000(as amended in 2008).
During the investigation it was revealed that the accused was booked for a similar offense earlier and the offense (CR No 579/2015) was registered against him under sections 376, 506 IPC, sections 67 (a) 67(B) of Information Technology Act 2000(as amended in 2008) and section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 at Dahisar Police station.
The operation was carried out under the supervision of Additional Police Commissioner Dnyaneshwar Chavan, DCP Pranay Ashok, ACP Vijay Dhopavkar, Senior Police Inspector Gulab Patil by Police Inspector Jeevan Kharat, API Santosh Tapase, PSI Ankush Jadhav, and constables Laxman Zade, Sanjay Jadhav, Ashish Surve, and Vikram Kale.
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