Investigation into Abusive Letters: A Preliminary Report

There has been a spate of emails recently with fictitious names on Assamnet (assam@pikespeak..). Some of the anonymous IDs that have been used are dasmadhurima@yahoo.com, benukalita@yahoo.com and holou@rediffmail.com. Some of the mails have been defamatory to the extreme, such as those from benukalita and holou bandor. Incidentally "Benu Kalita" is the real name of my father who is currently retired and who lives in Nagaon, Assam. As such, and as one of the administrators of the group (and also that the machine that hosts Assamnet belongs to my university) who is ultimately responsible for the contents of the mailing list, these anonymous and defamatory emails have bothered me a lot. I therefore decided to try and track down the source of each ID.

Initially, I started with dasmadhurima@yahoo.com, but have also been investigating into the benukalita@yahoo.com ID. I was able to make a determination that emails from both IDs originated at the same IP address. While it is possible that more than one person shared the IDs, I have been able to conclusively identify at least one of the persons behind the emails.

Even though I have identified one of the individuals behind the emails, I was willing to let it go if the individual offered an apology and agreed to not post such abusive emails in the future. While I have the right to pursue the matter either legally or with the employer of the individual, I had hoped that he would offer an apology and we could put this behind us.

To that end, I have made at least two public requests on Assamnet stating the same, i.e., the individual has been identified, but I would close the matter if he apologized. I have waited several weeks for this to happen, but unfortunately no apology has been forthcoming. This past weekend, I took the initiative to call the individual personally on the phone to try and solve the matter one last time.

The individual initially denied that he had posted any anonymous emails, but when presented with evidence, admitted to having used the email ID dasmadhurima@yahoo.com. I again stated to him that I would close the matter if he apologized to me in writing so that there is no denying later. In addition I told him that if he did apologize, I would not disclose his identity publicly on Assamnet, nor pursue the matter with his employer. He said that he would think about it. I also informed him that if he decided to write me, he would need to do it by Monday, June 6, 2004.

Unfortunately, he has not written to me as of 2:30 PM on June 8, 2004. As I have mentioned before, I have gone out of my way to still try and solve this matter amicably. But by refusing to apologize, the individual is refusing to owe up to what he has done. Therefore, I am forced to disclose his name.

This individual is Dhiraj Goswami of Texas. He is the person behind the ID dasmadhurima@yahoo.com. As far as I am concerned, he is also one of the persons behind the ID benukalita@yahoo.com. I will forward my logs to his employer for final verification.

As I have mentioned before time and again and in this email, I am yet willing to let it go and not forward the mails to his employer if he still apologizes to me and to Assamnet under his own true identity. This is my last attempt at reconciliation. If an apology is not made by as soon as possible, I will be forwarding his mails to his employer.

Thank you

Jugal Kalita 

Administrator, Assamnet