Mira-Bhayandar: The crime branch unit (zone III) have arrested a habitual offender on alleged charges of defaming officers attached to the police and civic departments by sending them abusive e-mails and posting their morphed photos on social media platforms.

According to the police, the accused who has been identified as- Chandan Thakur (32) was arrested from his apartment in the Global City, Virar on Tuesday. The action followed in response to an offence registered against him at the Bolinj police station under the relevant sections of the Information Technology Act-2000 on 18, November, 2024 for defaming several officials from the police department.

Thakur has more than a dozen serious offences including murder, extortion, cheating, sexual harassment and attempt to murder registered against at local police stations. Apart from sending emails and WhatsApp messages tagged with obscene and vulgar contents, the accused had been morphing pictures of the targeted officials face with objectionable body images of women and posting them on social media platforms, said the police.

When asked about his intention, ACP (Crime) Madan Ballal said, “Prima facie it appears that the sole objective was to extort money and also to get his works done by blackmailing officials with threats of defaming them on the virtue of morphed images. However, a detailed probe was underway.”

Thakur was earlier arrested from Surat in March-2022 on alleged charges of creating a fake WhatsApp account in the name of a deputy municipal commissioner and floating screenshots of fabricated messages containing objectionable contents on social media. The police suspect that the accused has targeted many other officials. Police Inspector-Prakash Sawant is conducting further investigations.

Two Fresh Complaints Filed by MBMC Officers on Thursday.

While seven civic officials including a woman have already lodged complaints, two more defamed officers attached to the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) came forward to register similar complaints on Thursday (20, February), following which FIR’s naming Chandan Thakur as accused were registered under the relevant sections of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita and Information Technology Act-2000 at the Bhayandar police station.