Call data records selling racket busted; 4 private detectives held

Thane, February 1

With the arrest of four private detectives, the city police claimed to have busted a racket of illegal sale of call data records (CDRs).

The accused allegedly used to obtain the CDRs illegally, a police official said.

The police was on the lookout of one more person allegedly involved in the racket, he said.

As per regulations, only those authorised, such as the police and some other departments, were permitted to access call data records with prior sanction from the authorities concerned, the official said.

The CDRs were generally accessed in order to be used as evidence in courts in cases of crime and other offences, he said.

Acting on a tip-off, a team laid a trap at a park in the Kalwa township and nabbed the four accused on January 24, Thane’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Abhishek Trimukhe told reporters here yesterday.

Based on the information provided by them during interrogation, the police searched the detective agency’s office and seized three desktops, two laptops, 11 mobile phones and electronic files of 177 CDRs, he said.

Those arrested were identified as Makesh Madhavan Pandian (42), who ran the detective agency in Navi Mumbai, and his associates Prashant Palekar (49), Jigar Makhwana (35) and Samresh Nantun Jha, alias Pratik Mohpal (32), the police said.

The accused apparently sourced the CDRs from some people in neighbouring Mumbai and used to illegally sell it to agencies and individuals who asked for it, he said.

They were booked on charges of cheating, and several sections of the Information Technology Act, the official said.

An investigation was on into the case, he added. PTI