A newly-inducted cop in Madhya Pradesh quietly slipped into the crowd of students at a medical college to catch suspects in a ragging case, The Times of India reported.
Shalini Chouhan, 24, walked through the MGM Medical College in Indore dressed like every other student -- in a top and jeans, carrying a bag full of books.
She would spend her hours at the college canteen, appearing at intervals so she wouldn't arouse suspicion.
Chouhan had to speak to a lot of people, something she found challenging as a shy person.
"I was told by my seniors to share things with the students which would ease them towards talking to me," she told The Times of India.
That worked. She managed to extract details from the students that helped her single out the seniors who were harassing freshers.
Chouhan's team had received an anonymous complaint with screenshots of chats between college seniors and juniors and the location of the places junior were called to.
“We matched the location screenshots mentioned in the complaint with geo-coordinates, and found the same (accused) students who were identified by our undercover investigators living in rented flats at the same locations," investigating officer Satyajeet Chouhan said. "This corroborated the complaint.”
The suspects were summoned to the police station and questioned. Their college suspended them for three months.
Shalini Chouhan's seniors said that without her, it would have been impossible to identify the suspects. They had tried stationing another police officer at the college, but students were scared to talk to him.
"It was then that we decided to use a decoy and constable Shalini was perfect for this,” police officer Tehzib Qazi told The Times of India. “She looks like a college-going student and is very sweet to talk to."
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