Arrives in city from Rajasthan after hearing about social networking friend’s impending nuptials; hires private eye to find out details of woman’s family, residence
The Crime Branch’s arrest of two men at Reay Road after getting a tip-off that they were in possession of two country-made pistols and five live rounds led to the untangling of a far more sinister web of love, rejection and coercion.
When members of Crime Branch Unit III interrogated Pawan Singh, alias Pushipal Singh (28) and his friend Sayyad Imran Ahmad, who are originally from Aligarh in UP, after their arrest on Saturday, they realised that the duo had come to the city to prevent the marriage of a woman that Singh got acquainted with on a social networking site and was in love with.
They had used the pistols to threaten the woman’s father to call off her wedding, slated for April 26, and had a case pending against them with the Byculla police. The duo had, on April 17, got the number of a private detective off a popular phone directory service.
“Through the detective, they got the details of the man the woman was going to get married to, as well as information about her family and her residential address. On April 19, they entered the girl’s house and threatened to kill her father, who then registered a complaint at Byculla police station,” said a Crime Branch officer.
Love trumps all
Singh is a mechanical engineer and has been working for a Rajasthan-based private company. In his statement, he has claimed that he got in touch with the 30-year-old victim five months ago through a social networking site and they started meeting soon after. He alleged that he had married the woman in a court but she was denying it because her parents were against the wedding.
“He says he was frustrated by this and came to the city to get his love back. We have also arrested the detective, Vishram Raghuloke, as Singh has said in his statement that the weapons were provided by him,” the officer added.
The accused have been booked under sections 506(2) (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) of the IPC, along with relevant sections of the Arms Act.
Copspeak
Senior police inspector S S Magdum from Byculla police station said, “The Crime Branch has arrested the accused and we will be getting their custody as the case is registered with our police station. The victim claims that Singh used to force her to chat with him on a social networking website. Further investigations are on.”
