Vasai: On Feb 18, the Mira Bhayandar and Vasai Virar crime branch arrested a 32-year-old serial offender who has 14 cases registered against him for various crimes, including morphing pictures of senior Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) and Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation officials, extortion and blackmail. Identified as Chandan Suryabhan Singh aka Chandan Thakur, he was also arrested in 2011 for a murder.
Additional commissioner of VVCMC Ramesh Manale had registered a case at Bolinj police station on Nov 18 that his morphed images were uploaded on social media and that he feared his family would also be maligned. The police got into action and the crime branch was also roped in. The team came across Chandan’s profile who used SIM cards registered in someone else’s name and use those SIMs to open social media accounts. The police got leads about him after he used a SIM card to order food from an online food portal.
Chandan Thakur was arrested from his home, said a senior police officer. He used to live in Mira Bhayandar earlier but had shifted to Virar only six month ago. —Vishal Rajemahadik
