Karnataka's first: Man sentenced for 2 years in cyber-crime case
What's the story
A 38-year-old engineer-turned-lawyer has been sentenced to two years imprisonment and slapped Rs. 25,000 fine, for morphing nude photographs of a woman friend and e-mailing the same to her and others. The crime dates back to 2008, during which he also studied law to defend his case, but clearly failed. Notably, this is the first conviction in a cyber-crime case in Karnataka.
Information
The accused thought of revenge when she became distant
The accused, Shivaprasad Sajjan and the complainant knew each other since their college days in Bengaluru, said cops. Over time their relationship soured when the girl shifted to Delhi and became distant from him. That's when he thought of revenge and committed the crime.
Story
He quit his job and studied law to defend himself
After the woman lodged a complaint, Shivaprasad, a Bagalkot resident, was arrested "for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form" and the case got transferred to CID's Cybercrime Wing, which was formed 17 years ago. Eventually, he was out on bail, after which he quit his lucrative techie job and started studying criminal law. He practised in his native to hone his skills.
Challenges
Investigation was difficult, as no CCTV footage available
Then he started defending himself in the cybercrime case and managed to drag the case using all possible loopholes, but the CID charge-sheet was also fool-proof. It mentioned that Shivaprasad used a cyber cafe in Rajajinagar to send the e-mails. But it was a difficult find, said officials. That's because there was no CCTV at that time, so no footage was available.
Information
He was traced via the mails he had sent
The cyber cafe owner also didn't take down his details, so they had to trace him through the e-mail sent to many of his friends. Consequently, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court found him guilty under Section 67 of IT Act, and sentenced him.