How unhappy does a man have to be to prefer triggering national security than go on a trip with his girlfriend? A Hyderabad man, identified as Vamshi Chowdhary, 31,reportedly sent a hoax mail to three City Police Commissioners simply to skip going on a tour with his significant other. Limba Reddy, DCP Task Force Hyderabad, said, “He has been talking to a woman from Chennai. The couple had a plan to go for a pleasure trip to Mumbai and Goa. However, Vamshi has been facing financial crisis.”
Vamshi sent mails from a fake account about simultaneous hijack attempts at Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad airports, causing obvious panic and prompt beef up in security. “He did not want his girlfriend to know about his financial issues after she declined to cancel the plan. He told her that the flights have been cancelled because of the high alert at the airports,” Reddy said. He had earlier created a fake flight ticket to April 16, from Chennai to Mumbai and mailed it to her. Mumbai Commissioner soon sent information to Hyderabad police, stating that the threat emails were generated from the city.
A task force soon tracked down the IP address of the computer. “The mail had been sent from a local internet cafe in SR Nagar. It was hard to identify initially as several people had used the computer. However, the cafe had CCTV cameras,” the DCP said. Over 15 people were examined, including Vamshi, who used the computer on that day. After he confessed to the crime, the police realised he had a history of cyber crime. “Few months ago, he had duped a woman on a matrimonial site. He took Rs 6 lakh from the woman and promised to marry her.”
A case has been registered against Sections 182 (False information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person), and 419 (Punishment for cheating by impersonation) of the IPC and Section 6 D of the IT Act (Punishment for cheating by impersonation by using computer resource). A high alert had been issued on April 16, in three airports after the email stating a woman had heard six unidentified youths discussing the hijacking of three flights in Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Chennai, was received by the Mumbai police.
