Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 15 Dec: In the session, ‘Danger in the DMs’, of the Crime Literature Festival, authors Anirban Bhattacharya—creator of Savdhaan India and Crime Patrol—and Jupinderjit Singh, Deputy Editor of The Tribune, examined the dual nature of social media: a powerful boon on the one hand and a dangerous curse on the other, in conversation with festival curator Maanas Lal.
Bhattacharya revisited the chilling Tinder Murder Case involving Priya Seth, a young woman who got a man she had conned on the dating app brutally murdered. Through his detailed recounting of the case—marked by deception, emotional manipulation, and a fatal abuse of online trust—Bhattacharya laid bare how digital platforms can become hunting grounds for predators. The narrative drew audible sighs from an audience spanning generations, underscoring how deeply these dangers cut across age and experience.
Singh spoke about how social media helped trace and bring back to India a mother accused of orchestrating her daughter’s honour killing through contract killers—a case that continues to haunt him and is chronicled in his book Ek Thi Mitthu Ki Jassi.
Concluding the session, Lal stressed that responsible use of social media—especially in the age of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence—is no longer optional, but imperative.
