Mumbai, January 8: In a bizarre incident, a man in Mumbai was jailed for making a hoax call about his own abduction. The man, who called the police sounded frightened and said that a group of men had kidnapped him. He switched off his cell phone soon after, leaving the police in a fix. According to a report by TOI, the man identified as 36-year old Shivkumar Gautam called the Valiv police from his cellphone to inform about his abduction near Tungareshwar Phata on Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway in Vasai (East). Interpol, FBI, and Canada Police Busted 25 'Fake Call Centres' in Noida, 300 Cyber Thugs Held.
The report informs that Gautam has been arrested under Indian Penal Code Section 182 for providing false information, with the intent to cause a public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person. The incident took place on January 3, a week after a worker from a Vasai factory was arrested for reporting a murder that never happened.
The report states that Police reached Tungareshwar Phata and carried out a massive combing operation to find Gautam but all the efforts went in vain. When he couldn’t be traced, the Police tried to find the location of Gautam’s switched-off cellphone. They asked several locals and shopkeepers but couldn’t get any leads.
Later, the police traced Gautam’s residential address and reached Vasai Phata on January 4 though. They were shocked to find him fast asleep at his house. Gautam saw the police and was frightened. He told them that he had made the call for fun and had not expected them to take his call seriously.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 08, 2019 09:36 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).