Befriending through Snapchat proved dearer to 17-yr-old polytechnic student

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

In a rare incident, Damini Squad freed a 17-year-old polytechnic girl student studying in the city from the harassment and blackmailing of her ‘Snapchat’ friend from Baramati, who is 13 years older than her in age, on Monday evening.

A native of Beed, Rekha (name changed) is a first-year student at a polytechnical college in the city. Her father is a farmer. Her parents provided her with a smartphone while she was studying in school at the age of 13. On Snapchat, she was introduced to Baramati’s Akash Sonawane. The chats grew each day. However, the duo had not met each other physically as Rekha was not allowed to go outside. After passing the 10th standard, Rekha stepped out of her house. Hence the duo met with each other one and a half years ago. Rekha was shocked to realise a few facts like his age was 29 years and working as a driver. Hence she immediately stopped her online conversation with him.

On the other hand, Akash was regularly pestering her to meet again, but Rekha was not responding to him. Later on, the accused sent their combined picture and started blackmailing her. In the meantime, he also obtained details like where is Rekha studying and where she stays, etc. In the meantime, for the last five days, Akash continuously sent her messages stating that he was coming to meet her at her college and her hostel.

On Monday, he insisted Rekha to come and meet him beneath the flyover at Kanchanwadi. He also told her to bite on his hand and at that same spot, he would paint a tattoo of her. Rekha was worried about things going out of her control and she also did not want to inform her family members. Hence she approached the Damini Squad’s PSI Kanchan Mirdhe. The PSI met her in person and lent her ears to the whole story. Accordingly, the squad comprising Nirmala Nimbhore, Sangeeta Paralkar, Amruta Bhopale, and Priyanka Bhivsane laid a trap on Monday afternoon. Later on, Rekha called Akash to meet her. The cops who were present in the vicinity in civil uniform detained Akash as soon as he arrived at the spot.

The cops also made Rekha realised her mistake at this tender age. She broke down and could not control her tears. Later on, the police dropped her at the hostel. Meanwhile, prohibitory action has been taken against Akash.