Gangster Kaushal made internet calls to extort money, evade police

Gangster Kaushal had been staying in Dubai since December 2017 on a work visa, under the assumed identity of Naresh Kumar, before the Haryana police and their Dubai counterparts arrested him last week.

Three days after the Haryana police and their counterparts in Dubai arrested most-wanted gangster Kaushal in a secret operation, details have surfaced about how the 38-year-old made extortion calls to businessmen in India without coming on the police’s radar.

Gangster Kaushal (in yellow t-shirt) made extortion, blackmailing and threat calls through international numbers and has more than 200 cases are registered against him. (Sourced)

Police officers privy to the investigation said Kaushal used internet-based calls to ensure his whereabouts could not be traced. “He used voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to make extortion and threatening calls. He was using virtual numbers, i.e., a number without a directly associated line to make the businessmen feel that they are getting calls from outside India. There are several cases of extortion, blackmailing and threat calls which were made through international numbers by Kaushal and more than 200 cases are registered against him,” said the officer.

The police said his gang members used to buy virtual numbers for between ₹1,000 and Rs1,700 and he used to change the numbers frequently. The entire gang was connected through these numbers to ensure police could not track these international calls.

“It took us almost six months to just trace his calls and location. We had contacted the service providers of the numbers he was using, but these service providers were beyond the geographical boundary of our country and did not readily furnish logs and details of the user,” Palwal superintendent of police Narender Bijarniya said, adding that misuse of virtual numbers is on the rise.

“These numbers were brought through credit cards from different areas because when one buys these numbers they ask for area code of the location from where they want the calls to be generated. Many criminals and hackers are using virtual numbers these days to threaten their victims and dupe them,” he said.

Bijarniya said they had to locate several internet servers to identify the one from which Kaushal’s calls were generated.

Police said the small gangs have also started using virtual numbers and intercepting and tracking these calls is one of the biggest challenges they face these days.

Meanwhile, the Haryana Police officials who had been camping in Sharjah, Dubai, since June this year will return this week after submitting documents related to all cases against Kaushal to Dubai officials.

Kaushal had been staying in Dubai since December 2017 on a work visa, under the assumed identity of Naresh Kumar. This was revealed in May after the police arrested one of Kaushal’s closest aides Vinay Kumar of Alwar, Rajasthan, from whom they recovered a copy of Kaushal’s passport. Vinay had forged Kaushal’s documents.

Police officials privy to the investigation said that Kaushal was living with his associates in Sharjah when he was arrested and will be brought to Delhi after all legal formalities are completed.

The team was required to submit all documents, including FIRs related to the passport case and his past records as the cases registered were against Kaushal and the passport recovered from the apartment in Dubai states the man’s identity as Naresh Kumar.