CASE STUDY : INVESTIGATION INTO THE ABUSIVE LETTER

Backdrop:
-

There was a branch office in Ahmedabad of a reputed and well known

company ABC where there were 6 employees including a lady all them local
Gujaratis. Only one of them was a person called Pande who had been
transferred from UP to Ahmedabad a few months ago.

The small office had access only through smart card access and a security
guard all 24 hours.

There were desktop computers given to each employee and a single common
printer was connected to all the computers. Print command could be given
from any of the desktop computers to the common printer.

Crime to be investigated:
- On January 3, 2006 an abusive letter titled Murakh Auratgiven in Appendix
A, had been placed on the table of the lady employee, which she saw when
she came in the morning.
-

She arrived a little late because she missed her usual bus. Everyone else except
Shah and Dani were already in office.

She was deeply upset and complained to the Ethics Advisor in the head office
and indicated her desire to lodge a police complaint

The Ethics Advisor requested the lady to wait and assured her that they
themselves would carry out an investigation and nab the culprit failing which
she could lodge the complaint.

The lady was adamant on the police complaint but reluctantly agreed to an
inhouse investigation. However she threatened to sue the company for a
massive amount in case the matter was not satisfactorily addressed and culprit
nabbed.

Investigation Objective:
- You have been appointed by the Ethics Advisor to determine who perpetrated
the crime and get evidence to support the conclusion.
Presume that you visit the Ahmedabad office with your team and carry out the
investigation and some of the findings have been given below to enable you to answer
the questions below
Relevant findings
-

Though each one had an individual computer access with passwords, etc,
generally the culture in the organization was to use each other computers and
use each others passwords to login.

Finger prints found on the letter are not within the purview of this exercise and
can be ignored; it was established that the letter had been printed from the
printer in house

The housekeeping staff had no office key and cleaned the office in the evening
just after office hours and the key was given by the security guard. Presume
that no one could have entered after office hours with the help of the security
or housekeeping.

The security guard had no formal education and for the purpose of this case
assume he was not involved in the crime.

Mr Dani had been recently promoted to manager category. He was her closest
rival and she had been bypassed. She had been very upset because she was
efficient in her work. She had not been promoted because she did not have
good interpersonal skills. She was greedy by nature and fought with everyone
for small things and her only friend was Mr Pande who had recently been
brought to Ahmedabad. She had even fought with her seniors in the Head
Office in Mumbai on certain occasions.

The branch manager Mr Kagazwalla had proposed marriage to the lady

employee a few months ago, but she had spurned his offer and married
someone else and he was heart broken. The lady and he were not on talking
terms and communicated only as regards work in office. He was well qualified
and a double graduate in literature and English language He had been posted
to various branches all over India in Bengal, UP, Andhra, and was now the
branch manager in Gujarat his hometown. He was a good administrator and
leader and a shrewd and strategic planner. All the employees in branches
under him were all happy with him. He was a fast learner and picked up all the
local languages very well and hence was able to deal well with all levels of
employees and win them over.

Mr Shah was considered one of the most sincere employees. He was very hard
working and helpful and got along very well with all except the lady. He was a
gentleman, always respectful, polite and soft spoken and not in the habit of
using foul language, but when the investigation was carried out and search of
his desk-drawers was done, it was found to contain plenty of spiteful,
pornographic and obscene material. He was on leave for the last one week. He
was a typical Gujarati and had not even completed his schooling but was good
in data entry work and therefore had been retained on a low salary.

Mr Merchant was a graduate from some Saurashtra university and good in his
work. He came from a vernacular medium and he was good in Hindi too.
However he was not so good in communication skills and not very conversant
with Computers, he would take help of others in computer matters such as
letter drafting, printing and accessing the net. He had left half day on 2nd
January. Mr Kagazwalla left at 5 pm on 2nd January and Mr Pande and Mr
Dani had left after that together at 6 pm. The lady had left at her usual time at
5.30 pm.

Mr Pande was a typical person from UP and could communicate well in Hindi
and Bhojpuri only.He would crack a lot of vulgar hindi jokes in office

Mr Dani was the accountant and had passed his CA intermediate exam but
due to family commitments and financial responsibilities he had not been able
to complete his CA. He was good in his work and had good interpersonal
skills. Having stayed in a remote Gujarat village during his early days he had a
strong village-Gujarati accent. He therefore knew only Gujarati and a little bit
of English from his schooling and education. He was very religious in nature
and came to office only after going to the temple every morning. Since he
would get Prasad for everyone, no one objected to him coming a few minutes
late.

The smart card access report did not show any other entry except the security
guard access at 7 pm for half an hour for the cleaning work.

Questions :
-

Presuming that the culprit was one of the employees and not the security or
housekeeping staff, who is the most likely one? Furnish your answer in a
structured investigation report containing the following:
a) The investigation objective
b) The motive of the crime
c) The conclusion containing the culprit
d) How and when the crime was committed
e) Nature of evidence you have to support your conclusion

Please bear in mind that whatever you state should not be in contradiction
with what has been given above.
-

What are the different methods you could use to collect evidence to nab the
culprit. Briefly explain in two three lines the method and approach

Appendix A
Murakh Aurat,
You are a complete Murakh aurat. You have no sense and I know what bad things
you have been doing. I have my own surveillance and an omnipresent team so that I
know precisely where you go and whom you meet a romeo after office hours.
Tum apne aap ko bahut great aur sundar samajhti ho na, But s****, k**** I will
demonstrate how cheap and bikau you are. Tumse aur bhi khubsurat and se*y aurat
hain and within a short while you will get proper punishment.
Tumhara Dushman
(Pease give your response in the attached sheet.)

Name : _______________________________________________
Membership No : ______________; ROLL NO. ______________

RESPONSE SHEET FOR ABUSIVE LETTER CASE

INVESTIGATION REPORT
a) The investigation objective
Who is the most likely person to have committed this crime

b) The motive of the crime

Why did the person want to abuse the lady

c) The conclusion containing the culprit

Reasoning for the identification of the culprit and the motive

d) How and when the crime was committed

A brief note as regards how this crime was executed and when

e) Nature of evidence you have/ could get to support your conclusion

Evidence you could have, or could collect explaining the methods techniques you
may wish to apply

Methods to collect evidence to actually nab the culprit and get a confession
( Briefly explain in two three lines the method and approach)