‘Police Bappa’: In Mumbai, an inspector’s Ganesh idol creates awareness on cybercrime

Police inspector Rajendra Kane’s Ganesh idol features in a music video on making people aware about various types of cybercrimes. The video was released in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and shared by Mumbai Police on its Twitter handle.

By: Express News Service

Mumbai | Updated: September 9, 2022 09:50 PM IST

3 min read

Police inspector Rajendra Kane, who is known for his investigation skills, conceptualised and penned down a song on cybercrime awareness.

Rajendra Kane, a police inspector from Mumbai’s Vile Parle police station, has found a unique way to celebrate Ganesh Utsav this year. The Ganesh idol at Kane’s home is dressed as a police inspector, with a smartphone in hand, and was featured in a music video – all with the aim of creating awareness about cybercrimes in the city.

Kane, who is known for his investigation skills, conceptualised and penned down a song on cybercrime awareness. A music video with this song, sung by Vaishali Samant and Avadhoot Gupte, was released on YouTube on Wednesday in the presence of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and shared by Mumbai Police on its Twitter handle.
https://twitter.com/MumbaiPolice/status/1565183099306409987
“Cybercrime is increasing every year and many people are losing their hard-earned money to cyber frauds. Hence, this year, we decided to create awareness among the public so they do not fall prey to these types of crimes,” Kane told The Indian Express.

For the last six years, Kane has been celebrating the Ganesh festival and simultaneously creating awareness on various crimes. This year, the Ganesh idol at his Andheri home is urging devotees to be aware of cybercrimes like phishing and vishing, Kane said. Small posters asking people not to share their one time passwords (OTPs), to beware of PAN card fraud, lottery fraud, credit card blocked messages etc have been placed around the idol.

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Kane is no stranger to using his creativity to spread awareness on crimes and socially relevant topics. In 2021, the idol at his home was dressed as an IPS officer and a song paying tribute to Mumbai Police was released. In July 2020, during the Covid-19 lockdown, Kane penned a Marathi song ‘Gharat Raha’ (Stay Home) sung by Shankar Mahadevan and released a video featuring actors Vidya Balan, Sachin Khedekar, Sumit Raghavan among others. During Ganesh Utsav in 2019, Kane made nine short video films to create awareness on preventing crimes like burglary, chain snatching, bag thefts etc.

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Ganesh Chaturthi Mumbai Mumbai Police