The blackmailers are back in full swing at VT Station. In the last few weeks we have heard of two cases where guys who were cruising there have been entrapped by railway policemen and then threatened with arrest and exposure unless they paid up.
The method is simple. Plainclothes police guys hang around or inside the men's toilets to try and lure guys. In the past they seem to have used a bait who wasn't a policeman, but in at least one of these recent cases the bait was a police guy himself, which shows how direct they are getting about it. As soon as the victim responds and gets physical, they grab him and take him somewhere secluded like platform #10 where they proceed to ask him for money, usually several thousand rupees. If the guy resists they take him to the railway police chowky at the side of the main entrance and pretend to take his statement, to get him even more scared. Those who've been on the list will remember that this was what happened in Azhagi's case and they have learned from him in that they no longer let the guy go home, but insist he either gives money now or calls a friend for it. The silver lining here is that this allows one way to get out of this mess. Of the two recent cases, one guy gave in and paid them Rs6,000 (which he could barely afford since he's not an affluent guy). The second guy called a friend, who called other guys, who all landed up. The cops seem to have sensed this because once they landed up, they were conciliatory, just saying vaguely they had caught the victim doing bad things. One of the guys who landed up to help is a really smart thinker and when going into the chowky he saw a list of names of senior police guys. So he dropped the names now, pretending he knew these guys and at once the railway police guys dropped all attempts at blackmail. They told the guys they just wanted to hand the victim over to his friends, and that was it! I think this episode proves several things: 1) If you're caught, call a friend and ask him to land up with more friends. The scam works with the cops thinking the guy is alone and terrified. 2) Stay cool. Remember that proving anything is difficult, especially with regard to section 377. That doesn't mean the cops can't book and harass you, but there they're just looking for easy money and if its looks like becoming complicated and long drawn out, they will let you go. 3) Remember the name of some top cops! 4) If you know a lawyer, ask him to call or come along. A few weeks back someone was caught by the Matunga gang and he called a friend for money. The friend is on the GB list and he remembered reading of this scam, so he called another friend who's studying to be a lawyer. This guy called the cops and told them they knew what their game was and they were coming with backup. The cops let the guy go at once. 5) If anyone who this has happened to wants to file a complaint, please get in touch with us. The central problem all along in this spate of blackmailings is that no victim wants to file a complaint. We have had senior cops tells us they will take action on this, but someone has to file a complaint. But no one does and at some point one has to say, as I did to one guy who was moaning about why this happened to him, is that it happened because someone who got caught in the past didn't file a complaint and someone will get caught in the future because you won't. 6) And above all.... DON'T CRUISE AT VT STATION. Its really not worth it. So many guys have been caught and had to pay - remember that for every case we hear, there must be many more who we don't hear about. And even for those guys who managed to get off, you can't always count on being lucky. The police certainly have powers to detain people for suspected immoral behavior and even if they can't make the charges stick, they can certainly make your life hell. You know the risk, so just don't do it, especially at VT Station. Please feel free to forward this mail to as many guys you know. Vikram Group Site: http://www.gaybombay.info ========================== This message was posted to the gay_bombay Yahoo! Group. Responses to messages (by clicking "Reply") will also be posted on the eGroup and sent to all members. If you'd like to respond privately to the author of any message then please compose and send a new email message to the author's email address. Post:- gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Digest Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] No Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Individual Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact Us:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives are at http://www.mail-archive.com/gay_bombay%40yahoogroups.com/maillist.html Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
