Pune:
The Cyber Crime Cell arrested a construction labourer and a salesman of a prominent mobile company for allegedly sending obscene text messages to several women in the state and Gujarat.
The suspect working as a construction labourer was identified as Rajesh Vishwanath (40) from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The police said Vishwanath had a BA degree.
The salesman was identified as Yogesh Vishnu Pille (25). The police recovered about 400 SIM cards from Pille and are investigating if he obtained it illegally. The police swung into action after a woman lodged a complaint with the Crime Branch.
"Investigation revealed that the mobile numbers from which the obscene SMSes were sent were being recharged from Navi Peth in the city. Pille was arrested on Sunday as he was carrying the used top-up coupon used to recharge Vishwanath's mobile," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Rajendra Dahale.
The officer said the SIM card used to send the obscene texts had been obtained by Vishwanath using a driving licence in the name of a Ghorpadigaon resident. "He may be carrying the SIM cards being a salesman, but investigation is on to find if he was misusing the SIM cards," said Dahale.
"Investigation revealed that Vishwanath procured the SIM card by submitting a driving licence issued by the RTO in the name of Satish Kamble, resident of Ghorpadigaon, in 2007. We have written to the RTO to verify the details."
Dahale said though Vishwanath was educated, he was construction site worker. "He first came to the city in January for a job and met a person named Vinod who helped him get the SIM card used for sending the obscene SMSes," said Dahale. "He then went to Surat for work and again came back to the city about 10 days ago. He used to call on random cell numbers. If the call was received by a woman, he used to call and send obscene SMSes to the woman again and again. We got the mobile call record of the suspect, which shows that he contacted several women from the state and Gujarat."