Loan app racket: Police act; three victims get calls

Hours after midday reported the plight of loan app racketrsquos victims who had been sent away by cops without an FIR some of them have been contacted by their respective police station Victims who had previously approached Byculla Vakola and Nagpada police stations but got no resolution visited again on Friday Nagpada police called the 25yearold delivery executive who was earlier dissuaded from registering a complaintJust an NCldquoAfter the story in midday on Friday an officer called me to Nagpada police station I paid a visit thinking they will file an FIR but the police handed me a copy of a noncognisable NC offence that they registered I donrsquot know what to do now I am ready to repay the loan but I have been subjected to harassment by the recovery agents What if they come to my doorsteprdquo he askedWhen midday contacted Senior Inspector Ramesh Khade of Nagpada police station he said ldquoWe have registered an NC under Section 507 criminal intimidation by anonymous communication of the IPC because the victim is saying that he does not want to pursue a caserdquoldquoThere is nothing to investigate in this matter because the victim has not incurred any loss He is only being threatened which falls under Section 507 of IPC ie an NC offence There is no case of cheating and loss and the loan recovery agent is not demanding more money from him Above all the victim has given us in writing that he does not want to pursue the case In this case the FIR will not be registeredrdquo Khade addedThe delivery executive however denied in writing that he didnrsquot want to register an FIR ldquoI am being harassed by loan recovery agents and it was the reason I had made an online complaintrdquo When asked how the harassers will be arrested Khade said ldquoIf required we will approach the court for permission to investigate the matter We can retrieve the call detail record CDR or subscriber detail record SDR and nab the accusedrdquo Lawyer on NC offenceA criminal lawyer at Bombay High Court Trivankumar Karnani said ldquoIt is extremely deplorable that a local police station is failing to follow the instructions given by the police commissioner There is a degree of frustration where they feel that if an FIR is registered a lot of responsibility and paper work will come on their heads Therefore they donrsquot have the will to take on the initiative by registering an FIR nab the criminals and unearth the truth and gravity of the offencerdquoldquoDespite the commissionerrsquos order the police stations are filing an NC offence under Sections that do not act as a deterrent The crime will only stop when it acts as a deterrent In the Byculla case Section 507 is criminal intimidation by anonymous communication But what is the purpose of criminal intimidation What about the fact that I victim got cheated because I took out a loan on the basis of misrepresentation I have been deceived what about the criminal breach of trust that I entrusted on these mobile loan app companies borrowed money and they have breached my trust instead of recovering money through legal methods and procedure set out by law in the Indian judicial systemrdquo he addedldquoThey mobile loan apps have indulged in extortion tactics So ideally FIR should be registered for cheating criminal breach of trust extortion and criminal conspiracy And I would go even one step forward and say that the police must put Sections of organised crime because mobile loan apps are cheating in a large number and the social stigma that revolves around is that they are threatening the victims by messaging their friends relatives and others and sending them morphed photos demanding moneyrdquo Karnani saidldquoThe police are rendering the entire justice system as just inefficient because the registration of FIRs or commission of a crime is done by the police Police are the gateway to justice and if they donrsquot take cognisance of the seriousness of the offence that is disclosed then we are killing the justice systemrsquos roots And if you just shut the gate to justice at the very beginning how do we secure the ends of justice in courtsrdquo he askedldquoGiving just a copy of an NC offence to the victim and sending him away is not only immoral but illegal too The victim must approach the Bombay High Court to seek directives because you cannot recover a loan from a defaulter through extortionrdquo Karnani addedOthers act nowVakola police however have registered an FIR station under Sections 384 extortion and 500 defamation of the IPC and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act ldquoEarlier police had registered only an NC offence but they called me on Friday morning and registered an FIRrdquo said the Santacruz resident who is the SEO manager in a digital marketing firmJustifying the previous action officer Pradeep More of Vakola police station said ldquoEarlier he had given a different version so we registered an NC offence In your newspaper however he gave a different version based on which we registered an FIRrdquoThe Byculla police have recorded the statement of the 27yearold student on Friday and asked her to come again on Saturday She had told midday that she had downloaded an app briefly and did not even apply for a loan Despite deleting the app she was being harassed by the recovery agents prompting her to switch off the number she had said