Cyber cafés in Deonar, Govandi, Mankhurd and Shivaji Nagar have been put under the scanner by the Crime Branch following the Jaipur blasts.
Tell café owners to be more strict about maintaining customer records, checking ID
Cyber cafés in Deonar, Govandi, Mankhurd and Shivaji Nagar have been put under the scanner by the Crime Branch following the Jaipur blasts. But so far, the police say, they have not found any evidence of criminal activity being conducted from these cafes; no messages being sent out over the internet. “In the past, miscreants involved in blasts and naxalites arrested were from these localities,” a crime branch official said.
On Thursday the Shivaji Nagar police called cyber café owners to the police station to check and discuss the records they maintain of customers using their facilities. There are about 50 cyber cafés in the area whose owners were briefed about how they can be more vigilant about the goings-on on their premises.
“We cooperated with the police when we were asked to attend the meeting. Crime branch officers explained what kind of documents we should maintain,” Shazad Ansari, who runs Izimo Cyber Café in Shivaji Nagar, told DNA. Arif Shaikh, owner of Crescent Café in the same area, said, “The records which we maintain are incomplete. The police have told us how to update them so that they can be of some use should the police need information about who visits the cafes.”
Another internet café owner Pappu Bhai said, “Nowadays miscreants use email to chalk out their terror plans and communicate with other gang members and take advantage of the fact that cyber cafés hardly maintain any records.” Cafe owners have, however, on occasion not allowed customers, who do not have proper identity papers, to use their services. “Sometimes we lose customers because of this, but we realise that being strict about records will come in handy when we are summoned by the police,” Pappu Bhai said.
The meeting lasted two-and-half hours. “We have asked café owners to take down the customer’s name, address and contact numbers, and check identity proof. So far we have not found any café violating the norms required to run the service,” senior inspector Shivaji Nimhan of Shivaji Nagar police station, said.
Deputy commissioner of police Deven Bharti (Crime Branch), however, said his officers were carrying out a “routine combing operation to check the licence that allows the cafes to run. If it is found that any café owner has violated the specified norms, his licence is cancelled.” According to an officer of the Crime Branch Unit 6 in Chembur, the police are trying to track any Bangladeshis or other illegal immigrants who may be hiding out in this area.
narayan@dnaindia.net
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