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'I crashed Air India plane': Love rejected, Chennai woman techie plans shocking revenge
The accused is Rene Joshilda, an engineer trained in robotics and employed at Deloitte since 2022.
What began as an investigation into claim of downing the Air India plane that crashed in Gujarat's Ahmedabad and bomb threats targeting the Narendra Modi Stadium in the city as well as multiple sites across 12 Indian states has ended in a bizarre twist — a tale of unreciprocated love, personal revenge, and cyber deception.
Ahmedabad Police on Monday said it arrested a woman who allegedly orchestrated a wave of terror threats in a calculated attempt to frame a man who had rejected her.
The accused, Rene Joshilda, a senior consultant at a multinational company in Tamil Nadu's Chennai, was arrested after an extensive digital surveillance operation traced the source of the hoax emails, according to a PTI news agency report.
Loved the man but it was one-sided
She loved Divij Prabhakar and wanted to marry him but it remained one-sided, PTI quoted joint commissioner of police (crime) Sharad Singhal, explaining the motive.
“Her dreams crashed when Prabhakar married another girl in February, filling her with revulsion and revenge,” he added.
According to police, Joshilda created fake email IDs — some in Prabhakar’s name — and used virtual private networks (VPNs), virtual phone numbers, and even the dark web to mask her identity. Despite her sophisticated attempts to cover her digital trail, a small misstep ultimately led cyber crime officers to her doorstep in Chennai.
Woman trained in robotics, employed at Deloitte
Rene Joshilda, an engineer trained in robotics and employed at Deloitte since 2022, is accused of sending hoax threat emails to high-profile locations, including the Narendra Modi Stadium, BJ Medical College, and schools in Ahmedabad.
She also allegedly targeted several other locations in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Bihar, Telangana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana — with emails often timed ahead of major religious events or VIP visits.
One of the threatening messages read: "Bomb successfully planted in Narendra Modi Stadium. Save the stadium if you can."
Claimed to down Air India plane
Another ominous email to Ahmedabad's BJ Medical College, whose hostel the ill-fated Air India plane crashed into on June 12, referred to a crash of the airline's aircraft.
"I think now you know power. Like we sent you mail yesterday we crashed the Air India plane with our former CM... Now you know we are not playing," the mail read, seemingly referring to the June 12 Air India plane crash.
The investigation, however, stemmed from an FIR registered at Sarkhej police station in Ahmedabad after a threat mail was received by a school on June 3, 2025.
The sender wrote she wanted to attract attention to a 2023 rape case in Hyderabad. "Going to blast the bomb in your school to bring police attention about the rapist who raped the girl in Lemon Tree Hotel in Hyderabad in 2023."
In total, she sent:
13 threat emails to Narendra Modi Stadium
4 to Geneva Liberal School
3 to Divya Jyoti School
1 to BJ Medical College
“She allegedly sent emails to various locations in 11 other states besides Gujarat,” said Singhal, emphasizing the coordinated response from state cyber crime teams across the country.
“We were tracking her for a long time. She was very smart and didn’t reveal her virtual trail, but due to a small mistake of hers, we tracked her and caught her from her house in Chennai,” he added. “We can say that we have busted a big module.”
Rene Joshilda’s use of her technical skills for personal vengeance, police say, created widespread panic and misled law enforcement across India — all stemming from a deeply personal vendetta and emotional heartbreak.
