social media

criminals

unnatural sex

Instagram

REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE

Forensic Department

Sion Hospital

A 22-year-old man from Kurla who loved uploading selfies onwas kidnapped and sexually assaulted by four people, including a minor boy, who traced him to a popular restaurant in the area. While it is common forto target people after befriending them online, this is perhaps the first time that a person was traced via a selfie, that too by complete strangers.Three of the accused, Mehul Parmar, 21, Asif Ali Ansari, 23, and Piyush Chauhan, 22, have been booked under the Indian Penal Code sections 377 (), 392 (robbery), and 34 (criminal act by several people in furtherance of common intention). The minor has been sent to a remand home. All four are residents of Ghatkopar.The first information report (FIR), registered at the Vinoba Bhave Nagar Police Station in Kurla West, said the complainant clicked selfies outside a restaurant around 10.30 pm last Sunday (December 8), and uploaded the images on Instagram. The complainant also mentioned the location where the selfies were clicked and uploaded that information as well. He said in the complaint that around 15 minutes later, Parmar and Chauhan approached him saying they ‘liked’ the photos onand started praising his appearance.The complaint said that the three began talking and decided to go for a motorbike ride and a smoke. According to the complaint, the three rode towards the airport for around 20 minutes, and eventually stopped near a hotel where a man was waiting in a car. The complainant told the police that he was forced inside the car where the three men took turns to sodomise him. Around an hour later, the minor joined the three men in the car and they thrashed the complainant till he agreed to perform oral sex on them, the FIR said.The complainant said that his ordeal lasted at least three hours, during which time the car was constantly moving, and he was unable to know the route the accused took. He, however, said that the four men dumped on a road going towards Kurla. “I checked my phone and realised it was 1.30 am,” the man said in the complaint.He confided in his parents, who accompanied him to the police station, from where he was sent to the Sion Hospital. Dr Rajesh Dere, head of theat, said the sample reports will take a couple of weeks to arrive. “The complainant has been told that he can visit us for counselling at his convenience,” Dere said.It did not take long for the police to arrest the accused. Investigating officer Madhuri Pokle said the four accused have no criminal past. “They belong to upper middle-class families. The three adult accused have been remanded in police custody till Monday,” she said.