Malegaon 1st to net man behind doctored clips

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
MUMBAI: The first arrest in connection with the doctoring of audio-visual clips of alleged atrocities in Myanmar actually came from Malegaon. An 18-year-old youth, Khalid Shaikh, was picked up in the matter long before arrests took place in Pune and Nashik.

Additional superintendent of police Sunil Kadasne said his team began monitoring cellphone users as soon as the video clips began circulating. "We asked the teams to look for people with provocative clips on their cellphones. During our surveillance, we received information that Shaikh, a scrap dealer, had got a video of the killings in Assam and Myanmar. We traced his location and seized his cellphone," said Kadasne.

He added that Shaikh had got the clipping from an auto driver. Shaikh, a Class XII passout, was sent to police custody for two days.

In Nashik, the Panchvati police on Friday said they would be seeking extension of police custody of Kiran Pankar (22), who had allegedly uploaded provocative posts on a social networking website on August 13. Pankar was arrested last week for sharing a photo with provocative text on it on the website. Pankar, an HSC dropout, is a master in editing photos using a popular software and used to work as a graphic designer with an advertising firm in Panchvati. Cops said Pankar manipulated the picture, which was uploaded by someone else, by adding provocative words to it and then uploaded it from his account. Pankar was in touch with 517 people on the website, cops said, and the picture got circulated and noticed by the Mumbai police.

Last week, the cyber crime cell of the Pune police questioned three suspects in connection with the provocative SMSs and doctored MMS clips that have been doing the rounds in the backdrop of the violence in Assam and Myanmar. The three have been identified as Imran Irfan Khan (39), Arif Munavar Khan (47) and Sarfaraj Mohammed Iqbal Shaikh (32). Cops have also identified others in connection with the matter, and have made some arrests in the past three days.


The Times of India, August 27, 2012