Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Railway employee arrested for sending obscene cyber messages

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, APRIL 8. An Accounts Officer of the Southern Railway in Madurai was arrested yesterday by the Cyber Cell of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on charges of circulating obscene cyber messages to members of the Tamil Nadu Chess Association.

The police said S. Kumar (38) had sent the messages about a woman office-bearer of the Madurai district wing of the Chess Association. An office-bearer of the association in the city complained to the CCB on February 9 that he received an e-mail containing the obscene contents.

Using the e-mail's Internet protocol number, the CCB officers found out that the mail was sent from a computer in the Southern Railway's network. But they were unable to trace from where it had originated as Southern Railway officials told them that the network was vast and that they did not have a proper record of the server's `log-file', the police said.

On April 2, the association members received a similar cyber message and this time, investigators were able to conclude that it had originated from a browsing centre on East Veli Street, Madurai. During an enquiry, the supervisor at the centre provided clues on the identity of the suspect the police were searching for.

Based on the information, the police arrested Kumar from his home at Mudakkaathan. The police said that he confessed to have sent the cyber messages from the browsing centre last week and from Southern Railway's office in Madurai in February.

The police said he was a joint secretary of the association's Madurai district wing but was removed from the post in 2001. Along with a few others, he formed ``The Madurai District Chess Association.'' The police said the railway employee had a personal animosity against the woman and added this was the motive for him to circulate the obscene e-mails.

The police said they retrieved some information from the hard disk of Kumar's personal computer at his home. If the second e-mail had also been sent from the Southern Railway's office, it would not have been possible to trace him, the police said.

Kumar has been charged under Section 292A of the Indian Penal Code (printing of grossly indecent or scurrilous matter intended for blackmail) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act (publishing information which is obscene in electronic form).

According to the Information Technology Act, a person found guilty under Section 67 can be jailed for five years with a fine of Rs. 1 lakh if offence is committed for the first time. In the second or subsequent conviction, a person could be jailed for 10 years with a fine Rs. 2 lakhs.

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