“Nothing has the power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.” - Marcus Aurelius

Background
A written complaint was submitted by the complainant stating that she had been receiving obscene phone calls on her mobile and landline numbers. The complainant learnt from the callers that a doctored profile of hers had been posted on a Website. The profile stated that the complainant loved sex and when the viewers were in Bangalore, they should contact her. The profile also gave out victim's landline and mobile phone numbers.

Investigation
The investigating officer obtained call details of the perpetrator's number from the cellular service provider and observed that the most frequent incoming and outgoing calls were from two other mobile numbers. The investigating officer also obtained the IMEI addresses for these numbers from the mobile service provider.

The investigating officer sent out letters to the Website on which the obscene profile of the complainant had been hosted to obtain details of the date, time of the profile creation, the IP address used for the creation, the access details for the profile and any other details that the Website would be able to provide regarding the profile and the e-mail ID.

The investigating officer then contacted the outlet from where the mobile connection had been purchased and learnt that one of the SIM cards used was a demo card which had been issued to a dealership. Upon further investigation it was found that the other SIM card was allotted to a college student and was being used by his friend. The investigating officer got suspicious and on further enquiry found that the college student was of dubious character.

The investigating officer obtained a search warrant and raided the residence of the college student. Using disk imaging and analysis tools, the team recovered the obscene profile that was posted on the internet from the student's computer. The partners of the accused were also examined in the presence of the complainant. The accused admitted that he was guilty.

It later transpired that the college student was a close family friend of the complainant and that he was suffering from a personality disorder, secondary depression and poor self-esteem.

Current status
The case has been finalised and a report of class “B” has been submitted.