Bengaluru: Ten people from three detective agencies have been arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police for illegally obtaining and selling call detail records (CDR).
Investigators arrested Purushottam, 43, from Kengeri; Thippeswamy GK, 48, from Marathahalli; Mahantagowda Patil, 46, from Anjananagar; Revanth, 25, from Vijayanagar; Gurupadaswamy, 38, from Dasanapura; Rajashekar S, 32, from Vijinapura; and Prasanna Dattatreya Garuda, 36, from Pune. These seven were linked with Rajadhani Corporate Service in Govindaraja Nagar.
Also arrested were Sathish Kumar J, 39, from Kothanur Dinne, linked with Mahanagari Detective and Security Solution Pvt Ltd in Prashanthanagar; and Srinivas V, 46, and Bharath KB, 28, from JC Nagar, linked with Elegant Detective in Basaveshwara Nagar.
Investigators recovered 43 CDRs and are analysing them; CDRs provide information about calls made and received from a phone service. Police officials follow a legal procedure with the knowledge of senior officers while obtaining them, if needed for probing cases.
The raids on the three detective agencies were held on May 22 by officials from the CCB’s Women Protection Wing (WPW).
Officials said that Purushottam operated Rajadhani Corporate Service, while Sathish and Srinivas operated Mahanagari Detective and Security Solution Pvt Ltd and Elegant Detective, respectively.
Sources said the detective agencies were accused of illegally obtaining CDRs and passing them over to clients or those involved in unlawful activities.
Two cases were registered in the Govindaraja Nagar police station and one in Basaveshwara Nagar under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Information Technology Act and the Indian Telegraph Act, including criminal conspiracy and cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.
Bengaluru City Police Commissioner B Dayananda said the cases were transferred to the CCB for further investigations. "Investigations are being conducted to ascertain how the CDRs were obtained, to whom they were provided and what is the motive," Dayananda said.
Investigators are also checking if there was involvement of any police officials as obtaining CDRs needs permissions.