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CRIME CAFES OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM
TILL LAST year, it was the dark, smoky bar that used to be
the haunt of criminals in Mumbai. On the threshold of the new millennium, it’s
the cyber café, call it Crime Café if you will.
Cheats, swindlers, high-class call girls and even prostitutes
are making a beeline for cyber cafes to conduct their business on the Net. While
the Net has made it possible to do business and gather information at lightning
speeds, crime cannot be far behind.
There has been a steady rise in the number of crimes
committed through cyber cafes in the city. Says Kiran Pagare, a senior police
inspector at the missing persons bureau, , "There are a lot of youngsters
at cyber cafes and criminals are trying to take advantage of them."
Fourteen-year-old Abrar Ashraf’s family is totally
shattered. He was "abducted" on November 2, by a 36-year woman called
Persis William, whom be befiended in a chat room. Apparently, Persis’s game
plan was to send Abrar to Pakistan. Both of them had a relationship as well,
despite the age difference.
"I am afraid this is all a manifestation of the Internet
era we live in. I have sold my computer at a loss because I do not want my kids
to get into any problem," says Inspector Pagare.
Crimes through chat rooms are just not limited to abduction.
Take the case of Sagar, who was mrobbed of this cellphone and laptop on Diwali
moening, by Sheena, whom he had net and got close to through a chat room on Talk
City. The police have been unable to come up with anything about Sheena. She
seems to have just disappeared into cyberspace.
There are cases which do not involve criminal too. A
17-year-old girl From Bandra’s MMK College ran away to Moradabad in Up to meet
the man she fell in love with through the Net. "Her father has rushed to
Moradabad to find her. The Mumbai Police have sent a team there. Her family is
shattered," said Mr Pagare.
Says former Joint Commissioner of Police
A.A. "I am
concerned about the vulnearbility of today’s youngsters. Internet provides a
criminal with the security to talk to anyone on his terms. At this rate,
criminals may just take over the Net."
A frightening prospect indeed.
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