‘Do men ever leave?’ A text message came on the girl’s mobile phone. It was from an unknown number. A little while later, the phone rang again. A message from the same number read, “He will always remember his girl.” Geeta (name changed), 26, had a fair idea of who the sender could be.
A few months ago, Geeta had received similar messages on Instagram. Earlier, someone had also threatened her from another ID. Geeta had blocked these accounts. Then messages started coming from a number. That number was not in her phone list.
As soon as she read the message, the girl sat down on the sofa. The events of the last few years started playing in her mind like a film reel. In the summer of 2019, 21-year-old Geeta was in Hyderabad. She had booked an app-based motorcycle. After the booking, a rider named Ravi came. This motorcycle ride was something different. But a few minutes after reaching home, Geeta got a call from the same motorcycle rider. This call was to confirm his number. After an hour, messages from the driver started coming on her phone.
Geeta complained to the customer care centre of the ride aggregator service and got the numbers of the motorcycle driver Ravi blocked. The girl said that she also sent an email to the ride aggregator about this and they immediately blocked his bike account. This stopped Geeta from receiving messages for some time. But this peace did not last long. After a few months, the rider started messaging the girl again. He would stop sending messages after being scolded, but after some time the messages started coming again from a new number.
Geeta says, ‘Initially, he asked me to be his friend. Later, this turned into a romantic confession. In a few months, he was stalking me on every social media platform. He sent me messages claiming that he loved me. I asked him to stay away. I warned him several times to stop messaging me and threatened to file a police complaint. But all this fell on deaf ears.’
The girl blocked his many numbers, but he used a new number every time. He had many Instagram profiles. He used to send dirty messages to the girl from different profiles. Some time ago, he sent love confessions and threatening messages to the girl from different Insta IDs. He swore on his love and promised that he would not leave the girl alone.
But the matter did not end here. The motorcycle driver made a big statement. He messaged- ‘I have your personal photos.’
Geeta was shocked after reading this message. She started wondering if he had misused her photos from her social media account or had hacked her account. Geeta was scared for her safety. She was shocked. She was thinking that the boy would misuse her photos and then blackmail her.
Now the limit had been crossed. Geeta mustered up the courage to tell her parents and the police about this. She filed a complaint on the police cyber crime reporting portal. Delhi Police swung into action and contacted her. Geeta recorded her statement on August 2 and filed a report the next day.
The police registered a case under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code. Geeta shared with the police the screenshots of the boy’s messages, the number he used and the details of his Instagram ID.
The police is conducting a technical investigation and checking the accounts involved. The police is confident that the culprit will be caught soon. The police has also formed a special team. The police action has given Geeta confidence that now she will neither receive a call nor a message from that bike rider.
Tags: Crime News, Cyber Crime, Delhi Police, Online fraud
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 7, 2024, 17:51 IST
