An Indian-origin man who waged a long run of harassment and intimidation against a woman in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to six years.
The 35-year-old Sirtaj Bhangal was jailed at Isleworth Crown Court in London on Friday after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to owning of an imitation firearm with the aim to cause fear of hostility; two counts of witness intimidation and breach of a restraining order.
“Sirtaj Bhangal launched an unprovoked, sustained campaign of intimidation against his victim which covered a period of five years, including a time when he was on remand in prison,” said Detective Constable Nicola Kerry from the Metropolitan Police West Area Command Unit, who led the investigation.
“The motive for this remains unclear and makes the intensity of his harassment all the more terrifying. I would like to praise the victim and her family for supporting this investigation and I can only hope that Bhangal’s imprisonment can offer them some small form of comfort,” she said.
Sirtaj Bhangal’s drive against the unnamed victim started in 2013 when he began to contact her through social media despite the fact the pair had not met. The pitch of Sirtaj Bhangal’s messages was humiliating and the victim blocked him from her accounts, the Met Police said.
Over the course of the succeeding three years, Sirtaj Bhangal occasionally contacted the victim but this escalated in 2016 when he sent her a nine-page letter stating he would be distress if she neglected it.
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Over the next year, the one-sided contact intensified via phone calls and texts and ended with Sirtaj Bhangal approaching the victim and then hand-delivering another letter to the victim’s address in May 2017.
The victim at that time reported the issue to police and Sirtaj Bhangal was arrested and charged. He was later on convicted of harassment and stalking.
While on remand awaiting trial, Sirtaj Bhangal used an illegal mobile phone in prison to call the victim and threaten her with violence. Bhangal was subsequently charged with witness intimidation and a court case set for July this year.
However, on July 3 the victim found an 80-page letter at her home address; the contents were highly disturbing and again threatened the victim and her family with extreme violence including having acid thrown at them. The letter as well comprised images of people who had been bruised with corrosive substances alongside pictures of the victim taken from social media.
A lookup of Sirtaj Bhangal’s address was seized and items including imitation firearms, Samurai swords imitation grenades, and packaging from acidic substances were recovered.
Sirtaj Bhangal was further charged with the firearm offense and a second count of witness intimidation.
-Sowmya Sangam
