Four sleuths held for selling call data records

Four detectives were produced before the court today for selling call data records of callers to customers. Thane crime branch had arrested four employees of Globe Detective Agency on January 24. Police suspect involvement of someone from the department in the case as it is only police and government authorities who can summon call data records from phone service providers.

Last week Thane police learnt that detective Makesh Pandiyan who runs the detective agency at Vashi provides CDR (call data records) to his clients which includes corporates, insurance surveyors, married couple, etc.

"For instance, if a person has claimed insurance for vehicle damage or accident, then the surveyor would ask for his CDR from the detective agency," says senior police officer Nitin Thakare, Thane Crime Branch. "Then on the basis of CDR it would be established that the claimant was not at the accident spot or some other place," the officer said.

After getting the input, police set a trap for him. One fo the officers pretended to be a client and asked him to get a CDR. When Pandiya reached the venue with the record, police caught him red-handed. They also seized three computers, two laptops and 11 mobile phones from the residences and office of the above alleged accused.