Four arrested for selling call detail records of thousands

The Delhi Police have busted a big snooping racket, involving several private detective agencies, and arrested four persons for allegedly selling call detail records (CDRs) of thousands of people collected with the help of a UP Police constable based in Kanpur. 

The arrested include a freelancer, who was earlier held in a 2013 CDR case, for taking out CDRs of over 4,000 people with the help of policemen of other states. The policemen were authorised to seek CDRs on their official email Ids from the nodal offices, sources said.

The arrested persons have been identified as Pankaj Tiwari (26), who runs Scorpion Verification and Consultancy, Jaiveer Singh Rathore (45), who ran a private channel ‘Abhi Tak’ and Rathore Media & Detective agency, Aditya Sharma (32), a freelancer, who was earlier involved in the same modus operandi, and Sanjeev Chaudhary (42), senior sales manager of a detective agency – BLS Company.  

“They are involved in procuring and selling CDRs of those, whom they were spying on. It has thus broken the lid off an interstate CDR racket,” said Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch).

Senior police officers said the gang was suspected to have procured and supplied thousands of sensitive CDRs and sold to clients, seeking to snoop in matrimonial matters, legal disputes, business rivalries, financial enquiries as well as talks between high-profile persons including politicians and top bureaucrats. These agencies lured the clients in the name of surveillance and obtaining the CDRs of their target. Once the clients agreed, they were charged exorbitantly.

These detective agencies, including Tiwari’s, used to approach Rathore, who used to charge the clients Rs 5,000 to Rs 18,000 based on the potential of the target’s personality. Rathore used to send these mobile numbers to one Narender posted as a Constable in Surveillance Cell at IG office, Kanpur, UP.  Narender would procure the CDRs from various nodal agencies and charge from him in turn.

A senior police official said: “He has been detained in Kanpur and teams are questioning him. Policemen from other states might also be a part of the inter-state CDR racket.”

Meanwhile, Yadav added the probe is on to establish the identities of 4,000 people, whose CDRs were spied on. “Most of them hail from Delhi. They could be politicians, bureaucrats, businessman,” another officer said.

Rathore told the police about Aditya Sharma’s involvement along with Chaudhary’s. The duo was later arrested. 

Sharma was arrested by the Delhi Police in 2013 too in a case, wherein CDRs of important persons were illegally procured. At that time, he was known as name Arpit. After being released from jail, he changed his name to Aditya and continued his illegal activities.         

“BLS Companies’s head Vinod Chaudhary, Operation Manager Sunil Pathak and company owners are all on the run. The role of several other detective agencies and nodal agencies is also being investigated,” Yadav said.