Father, son held from Jharkhand for stalking and cheating city girls

Charkop police have arrested two men from Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand for stalking Mumbai girls including a minor. Accused Arjun Prasad Sahu and Sachin Kumar Sahu were mainly into vishing crime to persuade victims to share confidential bank details over phone calls.

The father-son duo has a bungalow worth Rs 1 crore in Jharkhand with their illgotten wealth.

An officer from Charkop police said, “The father-son duo used to make random calls to people. They somehow got the numbers of three girls from Charkop. They would strike a conversation to gain their confidence and add them on Facebook.”

The officer added that both the accused hacked into the Facebook account of one of these girls, changed password of her Facebook account and uploaded random obscene pictures and posted on her wall.

Mumbai police had initiated a probe after one of girls registered a First Information Report (FIR) at Charkop police station alleging that she was being harassed over phone by these two men and that her Facebook account has also been hacked.

“The mobile tower location of both the accused was traced to Jharkhand. Our team reached there and them in custody. They are being brought to Mumbai by train,” said the officer from Charkop police station.

An officer privy to the investigations said that one of the college girls committed suicide on June 21 as the father-son duo had harassed her too by making lewd calls. “We are yet to ascertain if the father-son duo has victimised other girls and women too,” said the officer.

Sources added that the local police of Hazaribagh have booked Arjun, his son Sachin and wife Shanti Sahu in a cheating case. During raids at their residence in Hazaribagh, the police have confiscated a huge cache of passbooks of different bank accounts and ATM cards from their possession.

Shanti Sahu has been lodged in a local jail in Hazaribagh and the father-son duo have been brought to Mumbai for further investigations.

The investigators hope that the arrests would lead police to crack this major crime of vishing. Besides these arrests, two more accused are wanted in the case.

Sources have added that Thane police, too, were in search of these two accused who have defrauded many people of lakhs of rupees.

Charkop police have booked the father-son duo under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) including stalking, Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act and abetment of suicide.

Mumbai police initiated a probe after one of girls registered a First Information Report (FIR) at Charkop police station alleging that she was being harassed over phone by these two men and that her Facebook account has also been hacked