London:
A 28-year-old man of Indian descent who was accused of stalking has been sentenced by a British court to two years and eight months in prison on seven charges of stalking in connection with serious crimes against 121 victims.
Vishaal Vijapura was sentenced on Tuesday at Croydon Crown Court in South London and also received a sexual injury prevention order for a five-year term, which places restrictions on his activities under a court order.
Vijapura pleaded guilty to seven charges of stalking for fear of internet violence in the same court.
“The dedication and commitment of the agents working on the case, with national support from colleagues across the UK, have meant that Vijapura can no longer make these victims fear violence,” said Detective Inspector Paul Smith of Scotland Yard’s South Area Public. Security unit.
“Some of the victims contacted by the police were too scared to go out alone after the threats from Vijapura. The internet is now a safer place with future proofing against this man’s continued violations in the form of a custodial sentence. This kind of crime is dangerous and offensive and will absolutely not be tolerated,” he said.
“The victims in the case have shown great strength to come forward. They have supported the investigation and provided evidence of how Vijapura’s misogynistic behavior has deeply affected their lives. It is absolutely right that he was given a custodial sentence,” he added. he to it.
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cleared the charges against Vijapura to illustrate his overarching stalking behavior towards 121 known victims.
In January 2021, the Metropolitan Police said they had been made aware of a list Vijapura had published online containing personal details of victims, as well as a short essay attempting to justify the rape of the women and exposing more victims. during the police investigation.
On many other occasions, Vijapura took the victims’ images from their personal social media profiles and published them with rhetoric stating that the victims were enjoying bizarre sexual gratification.
He also published online messages of them with their personal details inciting serious sexual assault against them, the Met Police said.
Vijapura sent many of the victims — spanning 16 police districts of England — direct messages with “appalling and horrific subjects with sexual themes everywhere”.
“These victims have provided evidence and impact statements, as well as evidence that they have received or are aware of online correspondence from Vijapura.
Evidence was also collected showing that Vijapura identified the victims online and then tracked it down by paying for online services to obtain their name and address details,” the Met Police said.
Following the publication of the online list and accompanying essay, Vijapura was arrested on January 28 last year and then released on parole, pending the download and assessment of his many electronic devices.
In March 2021, Vijapura was arrested again in connection with a new offence, and by then was also found violating the terms of his police bail.
The Met Police said detectives conducted a complex investigation involving forensic analysis of many devices to gather the necessary evidence to bring Vijapura to court.