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Mumbai crime branch busts CDR racket, two held
Accessing someone’s personal data like call details, mobile locations and bank statements is illegal, but the accused used to illegally obtain all the details and sell the same to their clients, according to the police.
The Mumbai crime branch on Sunday arrested two members of a gang that used to run private detective agencies in Mumbai, Delhi, Odisha and Karnataka and illegally sold call data records (CDR), SDR, mobile locations and bank statements after charging hefty amounts.
The arrested accused identified as Shailesh Manjrekar, 39, and Rajendra Sahu, 26, are both residents of Prem Nagar locality in Goregaon (east). Police are on the lookout for seven more people wanted in the case. Four of them run detective agencies in Delhi, Odisha and Karnataka.
According to the police, Manjrekar runs a detective agency known as ‘Accent Confidential and Investigation Private Limited’ since several years and he purportedly used to provide call data records, mobile locations and bank statements illegally to his clients. The call data records, mobile locations and bank statements can be accessed only by authorised persons and by state or central government agencies who conduct investigations in criminal cases.
Accessing someone’s personal data like call details, mobile locations and bank statements is illegal, but the accused used to illegally obtain all the details and sell the same to their clients, said the police officer.
The police learnt about the racket through a reliable source and verified and identified the accused before laying a trap in Goregaon where Manjrekar was coming to handover call data records to one of his clients, the officer added. As soon as he arrived in a car, the police team nabbed him. After carrying out searches, police found several documents including bank details and call data records from his vehicle, added the officer.
The accused have links with other people who too run detective agencies in Delhi, Karnataka and some other states and take their help to procure the details as per requirement of their clients.
The police suspect that mobile company personnel and some government officers, entitled to get access to CDRs and other details, are also involved in the racket, added the official.
