Pathankot, December 3
The Pathankot police drive of laying emphasis on solving crimes using digital footprints paid dividends when an extortion case was cracked within 12 hours of the accused making the first call to the victim.
“Digital footprint refers to the trail of data a person leaves behind on the Internet when he uses e-mails or submits any information online,” said SSP Harkamal Preet Singh Khakh.
Businessman Ram Lal and the accused, Dhruv, were closely related and were in touch with each other almost every day. An air conditioning mechanic by profession, the latter was out of work due to the onset of the winter season. He used to sit at Ram Lal’s shop for long hours. He was in knowledge of the financial transactions regularly carried by his uncle and knew that he was financially secure.
Dhruv managed to get a SIM card by using forged documents and proceeded to call his uncle and put forth a demand of Rs 1 crore to be left on the city’s outskirts. Interestingly, every time he made an extortion call, he would go and sit at Ram Lal’s shop and start a conversation.
“He used to do this to ensure that Ram Lal did not doubt his intentions. The victim was terrified to the extent that he started thinking of leaving the city. However, at the behest of his family, he approached the police,” the SSP said.
The police traced Dhruv’s internet activities and examined the threats made by him through social media platforms. He had made seven calls and in the middle of the eighth one, he was nabbed, the SSP said.
An FIR was registered under Section 387 of the IPC against Dhruv.
