Man logs onto court hearing platform with drink in hand; arrested

The alleged cyber offence occurred on September 16 and 17 during proceedings in the court of a judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) at Tis Hazari Courts, officials said. Police recovered the mobile phone and SIM card used in the offence.

A 32-year-old man with over 50 previous criminal cases was arrested for allegedly disrupting online court proceedings by joining the videoconference using a fake account and appearing in his undergarments while smoking and consuming alcohol for two consecutive days last month, police said on Saturday.

The arrested man, identified as Mohammad Imran, a resident of Gokulpuri in northeast Delhi, was arrested on Wednesday. (Shutterstock)

The alleged cyber offence occurred on September 16 and 17 during proceedings in the court of a judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) at Tis Hazari Courts, officials said. Police recovered the mobile phone and SIM card used in the offence.

The arrested man, identified as Mohammad Imran, a resident of Gokulpuri in northeast Delhi, was arrested on Wednesday following an investigation into a case registered at the cyber police station of the north district on September 22. The FIR, filed on the complaint of a court official (Ahalmad), invoked provisions of sections 223 and 267 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant and intentional insult or interruption to a public servant during judicial proceedings.

During the investigation, police conducted a technical analysis of the internet protocol (IP) address and call detail records of the mobile device used to access the court’s video link. It was found that the suspect used fake email IDs and frequently changed locations to evade tracking. The suspect used his relative’s name, Akib Akhlak, as the username. Using local intelligence and manual searches, investigators traced him to Babu Nagar in Old Mustafabad and arrested him from his Chaman Park residence.

“Imran’s interrogation revealed that he is an active history-sheeter of Dayalpur police station in Delhi with involvement in over 50 crimes. He used to attend trial proceedings of his cases in Delhi courts. Some days ago, outside the JMFC’s court, a person introduced him to a WebEx video conferencing application and shared the court’s meeting ID. Out of curiosity, he started joining the proceedings regularly. He confessed to joining the VC in his undergarments, smoking cigarettes, and consuming alcohol during the session,” an investigator said.