Constable from Assam held in Thane CDR case

A police constable from Assam has been arrested in connection with the call data records (CDR) racket busted by the Thane police, an official said.

While investigating the racket, the police chanced upon a call data record and traced it to a mobile number from Assam, the official of the Thane Crime Branch which is probing the case said last night.

The Thane police officials then informed their counterparts in Assam to conduct an inquiry into it, he said.

Last week, the Assam police arrested the constable, Bhubaneshwar Das, attached to the Haflong police station, he said.

Das, working in the police's cyber cell, had illegally procured a CDR which was found in possession of one of the persons arrested in Thane, the official said.

A case was registered against Das at the Haflong police station and a process was underway to bring him to Thane, he said.

The Thane crime branch had earlier also arrested a constable posted in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, in the CDR leak case.

The arrested constable, Nitin Khawade (29), was also attached to the police's cyber cell and had easy access to the call data records, the police said.

Nearly 12 people have so far been arrested in connection with the racket, which revolved around private detectives illegally procuring CDRs of certain people and selling them to their clients.

The Thane police had earlier arrested some private detectives and a Mumbai-based lawyer in connection with the illegal procurement of call data records.

Advocate Rizwan Siddiqui, who was arrested last month, had represented many celebrities, including Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

The Thane police had last month summoned Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a witness, though had no direct role in the CDR case, a senior official earlier said.

Thane's Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhishek Trimukhi had earlier said that some of the accused told the police that Nawazuddin Siddiqui's lawyer had allegedly obtained CDRs of the actor's wife from private detectives.

The Crime Branch has so far seized hundreds of CDRs from the arrested people. These CDRs were being analysed by experts with the assistance of the mobile service providers, the police said.