The case of M G Gokul, a techie in Bangalore who has been arrested for sending hoax messages through WhatsApp to Bangalore and New Delhi airports suggesting that bombs have been placed on 6 flights causing an estimated $ 1 million (Rs 650 lakhs).
Bangalore police should be congratulated for having solved the hoax message case within 48 hours and arresting Gokul. What was commendable was that the SIM card which was used for committing the offence was in the name of another person Mr Jose who was innocent and was a neighbor of Mr Gokul. Police did not get diverted by this prima facie evidence which pointed out the innocent person as the offender and went deeper into the use of the SIM card with which they zeroed in on Gokul. The investigating Officer should be commended for the presence of mind and also for having persevered with the investigation until the real culprit was caught.
This was the second time that a Bangalore techie had sent messages to the Delhi airport about a bomb threat. Last incident was that of an Infosys employee who wanted to catch the flight for which he could not reach in time and thought of delaying it by sending such a message. He was also caught immediately.
As some body involved in Counter Cyber Crime activities for a long time, I wonder why the so called “Techies” should not realize that such messages would be traced easily and they would be caught and punished.
There could be two reasons. One is “Ignorance” that there are laws in India that make sending of such messages punishable under ITA 2000 as well as under IPC or under Air Safety related laws. Secondly it is “Technology Intoxication” which makes them blind to the fact that Police may also be sufficiently intelligent as to solving such cases.
These incidents also point out negligence of the HR functionaries in these companies who have not taken steps to educate their employees on the ethical aspects of usage of technology. Hopefully these incidents would make at least some of the HR managers to sit up and take action to build a basic ethical behavioural culture in their employees.
Refer article in Bangalore Mirror
If one goes through the article in Bangalore mirror, one wonders if Gokul is another incarnation of Indrani Mukherjea who had reportedly schemed murder of her daughter and son and executed the murder of the daughter Sheen Bora in Mumbai .
Gokul not only schemed (As per the report) and murdered his wife but also laid an elaborate plan to win over his neighbors wife first by forging letters in the name of an Archbishop and then trying to frame the husband of the lady whom he loved. He has also reported to have tried to get Mr Jose framed by creating a facebook page and putting ISIS promotion information there in.
It is interesting to note that both Indrani and Gokul had committed the offence of sending forged electronic messages and committing Cyber Crimes under ITA 2008. Though their other offences are graver and can lead to hanging or life imprisonment, the use of Cyber Crimes by ordinary IPC criminals as a common modus operandi seems to be clear. This highights the need for Police to improve their skills and investigative resources for solving Cyber Crimes because it can lead to solving of many other non ITA 2008 crimes also.
The case of Gokul makes an excellent case study for criminologists on how an educated and well informed techie can misuse his knowledge and skill if he has no ethics but is unable to see the possibility of being caught by the Cyber Crime investigators.
Naavi
