'Lady James Bond' arrested in CDR case

The Thane crime branch arrested the state's first female detective, Rajani Pandit, on Friday in the Call Detail Record (CDR) case in which call record details of citizens were secretly procured and sold to willing buyers. The Thane crime branch had unearthed the racket a few days ago and arrested four people in the case.

Pandit was called for an inquiry by the Thane crime branch on February 2 following which she was arrested. "Those arrested confessed during the inquiry that Pandit is also one of their clients who purchased CDR from them," said senior police inspector, Nitin Thakare, Thane crime branch unit 1. "It was confirmed that Pandit is one of their buyers from the information provided and through the emails," added Thakare.

Pandit, a resident of Dadar, was arrested at 4.45 pm and will be produced in Thane court on Saturday. The investigating cops are also exploring the involvement of a police officer in the case as it is only the police and certain government authorities who can summon CDR from service providers. The four detectives who were arrested last week were from Globe detective agency, Vashi and were caught red-handed while trying to sell CDR to Thane cops posing as buyers. They sold these CDRs to corporates, insurance surveyors and married couples.

Rajani Pandit was known as Lady James Bond in crime circles. She officially started working as a detective in 1991 and is a published author of two books on her life as a detective.