THANE: In a major breakthrough in the call detail records (CDRs) racket, the Thane crime branch arrested a 25-year-old 'cyber crime expert' who allegedly hacked the official email of
Yavatmal superintendent of police and misused it to procure 111 CDRs from mobile service providers and sold them to private detectives.
Ajinkya Nagargoje, who hails from Yavatmal, and Jasprit Singh Marwah (32) were nabbed from Pune late on Tuesday by a crime branch team, led by sub-inspector Ashok Mane and assistant police inspector Samir Ahirrao. The duo, in connivance with the seven arrested private detectives, ran the well-oiled cartel of illegal procurement CDR, claimed DCP (crime)
Abhishek Trimukhe.
During interrogation, one of the arrested detectives Jigar Makwana had named Nagargoje as one of his sources.
Nagargoje, an expert in cyber forsenics, was currently preparing for the UPSC exam, said a source. In 2014, when he was in Yavatmal, he developed contacts in the police force and bagged a contract to develop their official website.
"He hacked the SP's official email and would send emails to mobile service providers to get CDRs on behest of Makwana. He sold the CDRs for Rs 7,000 each," Trimukhe told TOI.
Police claimed Marwah, who was employed with a firm that handled the back-office services of a mobile service provider, was in contact with one of the arrested accused Prashant Palekar. "Marwah gave Palekar 34 subscriber detail records, which comprise mobile users' name and address," said a police officer.
In a related development, magistrate P L Gupta extended the police custody of Rajani Pandit, India's first woman private detective, till February 11. Police informed the court that Pandit, who was arrested on February 2, was not cooperating with the probe and hence, they required her further custody. "Involvement of police as well as nodal officers of mobile companies is not ruled out as the probe is extending to Delhi and
Uttar Pradesh," the prosecutor told the magistrate.
Illustration for representational purpose.
