Detective was police’s reliable source

One of the private detectives accused of illegally ‘purchasing’ the call detail records (CDRs) of BJP leader Arun Jaitley used to be the ‘technical backbone’ of Delhi Police’s elite cell.

One of the private detectives accused of illegally ‘purchasing’ the call detail records (CDRs) of BJP leader Arun Jaitley used to be the ‘technical backbone’ of Delhi Police’s elite cell.

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Highly-placed sources told HT that Anurag Singh was a ‘dependable source’ of assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Rajbir Singh and inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, till he was found to have been involved in the Amar Singh phone-tapping case of 2005.

The extent of the ‘technical support’ which Anurag had provided, sources said, was difficult to gauge as both ACP Singh and Inspector Sharma are no longer alive.

“He is highly adept at hacking, technical surveillance and what is now known as corporate espionage. He used to help and sometimes even guide us with the nitty-gritty of putting terror suspects and extortionists on surveillance and tracking them,” a senior police officer said.

“Anurag used to work for intelligence agencies and the Delhi Police from 2000 to 2003. But the agencies stopped using his services when he went rogue. He spent two years in jail after he was found to be involved in the Amar Singh case,” the officer added.

On Wednesday, Anurag and his associate at central Delhi’s ‘V-Detect’ detective agency, Nitin and ‘rogue’ Delhi Police constable Arvind Dabas were confronted with each other at the special cell’s office. Later, Dabas was produced at a city court which sent him to 14-day judicial custody. Police said Dabas had claimed to have been unable to procure Jaitely’s CDR, which the police will contest in court.

Dabas, who reportedly owns a Maruti agency in Delhi, had retrieved the CDRs of several persons on 10-12 occasions for the three accused. “ Dabas was to give Jaitley’s phone call records to Neeraj, who was to pass it on to Anurag and Nitin. We are trying to find out on whose orders Anurag was working,” said a police officer, adding Dabas that used to charge Neeraj between R1,500 to R2,000 for each client’s CDR.