4 held for circulating objectionable SMS in city

Two offences were registered at the Cantonment and Kondhwa police stations after the attacks on Northeast students and working professionals in the city.

Around 15 youths from the Northeast were attacked or threatened in Pune since August 8 and later thousands left the city.

Investigations revealed that rumours spread through SMSes and a doctored MMS clip had triggered the incidents.

The cyber cell of Pune police found that four suspects were involved in circulating these objectionable SMSes. Deputy Commissioner of Police (cyber cell) Sanjay Shinde said,“All four suspects are well-educated and are employed at different private firms. One of them holds a postgraduate degree,Masters in Computers Management (MCM).”

The suspects were arrested on Monday. They were produced in the Cantonment court on Tuesday and remanded in police custody till August 23.

Police informed the court that the suspects,after getting the objectionable SMSes on their cellphones,circulated it. Police said objectionable SMSes were found in the cellphones used by all the four suspects. Police sought custody of the suspects to probe from where they had got these SMSes and to whom they had passed it on.

Police said a probe is on to identify the masterminds behind the objectionable SMSes and MMS clips. They added that the details of the calls made from the cellphones of the arrested suspects are also being probed.

DCP Shinde added the MMS clips that were circulated widely was “doctored and fabricated.” “We have got the report from experts about the doctored video clip,” he said.