Mumbai crime branch files chargesheet against 2 college students in Ambani threat case

The two college students are accused of sending threatening emails to Reliance Industries Ltd and its chairman, Mukesh Ambani, demanding ₹500 crore

Mumbai: The Mumbai Crime Branch has filed a 1,000-page chargesheet against two college students accused of sending threatening emails to Reliance Industries Ltd and its chairman, Mukesh Ambani, demanding ₹500 crore.

RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani(HT_PRINT)

Rajveer Khant, 21, and Ganesh Vanaparthi, 19, were arrested in separate operations last year. Khant, a third-year commerce student from Kalol, Gujarat, was apprehended by the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU), while Vanaparthi, a computer science student from Warangal, Telangana, was taken into custody by the Gamdevi police in November.

Investigators describe Khant, the son of a Gujarat police head constable, as a tech-savvy internet enthusiast who frequently used the dark web and virtual private networks (VPNs) to mask his location. In one brazen email, he reportedly challenged authorities with the taunt, "Catch Me If You Can."

"Khant used to mask his internet protocol (IP) address, leaving very little room for authorities to trace him," a police officer said. "However, he was accessing mailfence.com and had created an email account impersonating someone named Shadab Khan. While accessing the email account, it took time to change VPN networks, and we got our first clue as we obtained his IP address."

According to the chargesheet, Khant sent five emails to Ambani between 27 October and 1 November 2023, with escalating demands ranging from ₹20 crore to ₹400 crore.

Vanaparthi, acting independently, sent a single email to Ambani on 1 November, demanding ₹500 crore. During interrogation, he claimed to have sent the email "for fun" after seeing news reports about the threats Ambani had received.

The investigation involved extensive collaboration with service providers. "We found that out of 500 mailfence.com users in India, only 150 were active in October. On 25 October, just before Ambani received the threatening emails, only one person in India was using a mailfence email ID. This was a major breakthrough," an officer explained.

The improbable Pakistan cricket connection

Khant reportedly chose the name "Shadab Khan" for his email account after watching a cricket World Cup match where the Pakistani player was performing well.

Despite Khant's confidence in his anonymity, the Crime Branch team, led by Milind Kate, successfully traced him through meticulous analysis of technical data and cooperation with various agencies and service providers in India and abroad.

Both accused have been booked under Sections 387 and 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code, dealing with extortion and criminal intimidation. If convicted, they could face up to seven years in prison.