CDR leak case: Delhi, UP Police at loggerheads over arrested constable (Lead,correcting headline)

An Uttar Pradesh constable, Narender, arrested for leaking call detail records (CDRs) of over 200 persons for money is now at the centre of a tussle between Delhi Police and UP Police over his exact posting. The police of Uttar Pradesh has denied Delhi Police's claim that the constable was from the office of the Kanpur IG.

Delhi Police, which busted the case on Sunday, announced during a media briefing that Narender was posted as a constable at the surveillance cell of the Kanpur Inspector General of Police office.

But Kanpur IG Zaki Ahmed has denied it. Ahmed told IANS over phone that he had not been contacted by Delhi Police officers before and after the raid conducted in Kanpur. He denied that Narender was posted in his office.

"There is no surveillance cell in IG office in Kanpur, and he (Narender) was not associated with my office. He is presently posted in the surveillance cell of Kanpur SSP office and has also worked in DIG office. I am shocked at why they (Delhi Police) took my office's name," Ahmed told IANS.

"I am not in a fighting mood... but they (Delhi Police) should have informed us before conducting the raid. They did not try to make an official communication with us, though there is a CRPC procedure to inform senior police officers before conducting raids in other state's jurisdiction," the Kanpur IG said.

The officer said he is ready to help Delhi Police in the investigation.

The Uttar Pradesh Police wrote a letter to Delhi Police on Wednesday refuting the latter's claim that Narender was with the surveillance cell of the IG.

Delhi Police wrote back to the UP Police seeking clarification on Narender's posting.

"We received a letter from Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday in which they have refuted that Narender was posted at the surveillance cell of Kanpur IG. In reply, we have sought clarification from Kanpur IG about the posting of the constable," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav told IANS.

A senior Delhi Police official investigating the case told IANS on condition of anonymity that the UP Police "tried to mislead the investigating team to avoid his questioning".

The officer said that the Delhi Police raiding team which visited Kanpur two days before busting the racket was "wrongly informed" by Uttar Pradesh Police about the posting of Narender. "After several attempts (to learn about Narender), the UP Police explained to our officers that he was associated with the Kanpur IG office," the officer said.

"We tried to contact the Kanpur IG and SSP but could not get proper information about Narender's posting details," the officer said.

The Delhi Police had on Sunday cracked an inter-state gang involved in illegally getting call detail records (CDRs) and then selling them to various people, mainly detective agencies. Four persons -- Jaiveer Singh Rathore, 46, Pankaj Tiwari, 26, Aditya Sharma, 32, and Sanjeev Chaudhary, 42 -- were arrested for illegally obtaining CDRs.

Investigators had earlier said that Rathore, owner of a detective agency based in Uttam Nagar in west Delhi, got the call records from Narender.

According to police, Rathore used to sell the CDRs to some private detective agencies, including Delhi-based BLS Management Solution Pvt. Ltd., for Rs 5,000 to Rs 30,000.

Investigators said that BLS has been illegally obtaining CDRs to spy on various targets at the behest of its clients who approached it for surveillance in matrimonial disputes, financial enquiries about their rivals, love affairs, civil disputes, legal disputes and others.

(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in and Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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