Amritsar, February 8
Beware! The advent of ‘spy cameras’, ‘web cam recordings’ or other modern gadgetry can play havoc with innocent teenagers on a date.
While digital videos and still cameras may have given new avenues to couples to experiment with their home videos, certain enthusiastic husbands or boyfriends may go in for recording on a
CD (compact disc). That the idea is fraught with dangers has become evident with some of these videos emerging in the ‘grey market’ of this border district. This has shamed such couples into hiding as their private moments are in public glare at video parlours.
It is confirmed that unscrupulous elements in video-photography computerised laboratories may seem to be highly polished in carrying out a client’s bidding promising utmost secrecy in carrying out the task of making their private CDs.
However, many of the CDs prepared in a clandestine way merely appear to have been prepared from start to finish before the eyes of the clients. Little does the client realise that the videos prepared on the computers which are deleted even from recycle bins of the computer are invariably stored in the computer’s hard discs. These are retrieved by some of the computer’s nukes and junkies. The reel is thus replicated and recorded to make thousands of copies of the original.
This does not stop here. They make the CDs available in the ‘home market’ where the couple could be staying due to “high inquisitive value” of seeing local faces. The police say initial black mailing for ransom before the video is released could not be ruled out. However, things have gone nightmarish for certain couples in the city. Such CDs find their way into the local market which are seeing eager buyers doling out as much as Rs 100 per CD. A well-oiled nexus is reportedly patronizing the infamous trade.
Earlier, such modern gadgetry had proved nightmarish for a local woman, till the local police achieved a breakthrough in the ‘first cyber crime’ after a lot of effort. The police had detected this case, the first of its kind in the state, when a woman was projected as ‘characterless’ by the accused who also happened to be a woman, a resident of Mumbai. She had developed some personal grouse against the victim — Mamta (not real name). The accused woman allegedly created her (Mamta’s) profile on the website and projected her as a characterless woman. The phone numbers and other particulars of Mamta were also added on the site.
Subsequently, the woman was flooded with phone calls and obscene letters. The accused further created fake ID of her as ‘mamta@hotmail.com’ and started sending and receiving obscene e-mails. The ID was also used for net chatting. A complaint was lodged with the local police which achieved a breakthrough after establishing the identity of the culprit after tracing the main server which showed the location of the originating internet protocol (IP) in Mumbai.
