CDR scam: Another private detective arrested

The arrested accused Laxman Thakur used to work with Kirtesh Kavi, who was arrested in February, to obtain CDRs illegally

The Thane crime branch unit-1 has arrested another private detective in the call data records (CDR) scam on Friday night.

As many as 14 people have been arrested in the CDR scam, including the well-known detective Rajani Pandit and lawyer Rizwan Siddhiqui. (HT PHOTO)

The arrested accused Laxman Thakur used to work with Kirtesh Kavi, who was arrested in February, to obtain CDRs illegally. Thakur’s arrest has taken the number of arrests to 14 in this case.

An officer from the crime branch said, “Thakur, 35, a private detective, used to work for Kavi, also a private detective. We had arrested Kavi in the month of February for illegally obtaining CDRs of people.”

Thakur had forwarded several numbers to Kavi’s WhatsApp to obtain their CDRs in the last six months.

“We have found that the CDRs of all these numbers were obtained illegally. Thakur also used to operate individually and acquire CDRs for his own cases,” the officer added.

Both Thakur and Kavi were arrested by the Bandra police for the same crime earlier, though they continued to access these CDRs. “We still have to investigate if the numbers he had forwarded belonged to any celebrity. Thakur was arrested from Santacruz on Friday night. He has been kept in police custody till May 14.”

The case came to light when Thane crime branch unit-1 had arrested four private detectives for illegally selling CDRs in the month of January. These included Makesh Pandiyan, 42, Prashant Palekar, 49, Jigar Makawana, 35, and Samresh Jha, 32. They used to allegedly sell the data for a sum of money that was anywhere between ₹25,000 and ₹50,000.

As many as 14 people have been arrested in the CDR scam, including the well-known detective Rajani Pandit and lawyer Rizwan Siddhiqui, who was later released on bail.