<img title="Akriti Kakkar" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2017/may/21Akriti-Kakkar.jpg" alt="Akriti Kakkar" /> Akriti Kakkar
Mumbai has, for long, worn the tag of 'the city that never sleeps' with a sense of professional pride. Now, it can use it as a social badge of honour as well.
On Thursday, within 24 minutes of a post on Facebook by clinical psychologist Dr Swapna Patker saying "Due to tremendous torture and mental harassment I'm committing suicide. I can't take it anymore. Goodbye to all" appearing on her wall, singer Akriti Kakkar (best known for her song Saturday Saturday in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania) along with others who were friends of Patker, called the Mumbai police, who promptly got into action, but realised, thankfully, that the post was a hoax and Patker was sleeping soundly at home.
<img title="Dr Swapna Patker" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2017/may/21Dr-Swapna-Patker.jpg" alt="Dr Swapna Patker" /> Dr Swapna Patker
Kakkar said, "I was browsing through my Facebook feed when I stumbled upon Swapna's status update saying that she was about to commit suicide. While I don't know her personally, the post sent alarm bells ringing and I instinctively took it upon myself to do whatever I could to prevent the calamity. I shared it on my personal page, asking for help." Kakkar added that she hoped that people would reach out to her with leads on Patker's personal number or address.
"To my surprise, a lot of people who were awake at 1.30 am over 100 people commented on her post; enquiring about her well-being, pleading with her to refrain from committing suicide." In the meanwhile, Kakkar also shared a screenshot of the post on Twitter tagging the Mumbai Police and Police Commissioner's Twitter handles. "A student gave her adddress which was in Vakola, I contacted the Vakola cops asking them to rush to her aid."
<img title="The post that was uploaded on Dr Swapna Patker's FB page on May 18 " src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2017/may/21Swapna-Patker-2.jpg" alt="The post that was uploaded on Dr Swapna Patker's FB page on May 18 " /> The post that was uploaded on Dr Swapna Patker's FB page on May 18 
Assistant inspector from the Web cell, Sarika Thorat, said, "While trying to obtain her number and address we contacted her friends on Facebook and finally managed to get her details. We shared this with the local Vakola police who then went to her home and discovered that she had not posted anything on Facebook and someone had probably hacked her account and posted a false message."
Senior inspector at the police station, Mahadeo Wavale, added that his team met Patker who said the post was a hoax, and didn't register any complaint with the cops. A friend of Patker, Bhaskar Tare, told mid-day that she later took down the post and also announced that her account had been hacked."
Kakkar said she was happily surprised by the promptness of the police. "I salute the police for being so incredibly alert and actionable at 2 am. They get a lot of flak for many things, but they deserve a lot of credit in this case," she added.
She said Patker's whereabouts could be tracked only because of social media. "Once I shared her post, many people came forth and a full-fledged search mission started across social media platforms. It was a timely stroke of luck that helped avert disaster, if at all it was going to actually happen," said the singer.
Later, Kakkar said, Dr Patker got in touch with her. "She called me on Friday to thank me for whatever I did. I am glad we could do what we did." The Mumbai police also reached out to the singer on Twitter, thanking her for her promptness.
Patker, speaking to mid-day, said, "Such a post is very unfortunate and will impact my career. I help others deal with depression and am also a life coach. If my clients read this, they would reconsider using my service."
While confirming the events, Patker who has been in the profession for 15 years, added that she has connected with the right agencies to look into who hacked into her Facebook account. "In the meanwhile, I have stopped posting on Facebook for some time."

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Home / Mumbai / Mumbai News / Article / Bollywood singer Akriti Kakkar alerts Mumbai Police to suicidal FB post

Bollywood singer Akriti Kakkar alerts Mumbai Police to suicidal FB post

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