Mumbai Crime Branch cyber cell

By Carlyn V. Webb Last updated Jun 3, 2022

The cops piece together modus operandi details from the phone of a man arrested in Kurar’s suicide case; accused again mom

The investigation so far into Kurar’s suicide case shows debt collectors in India are being trained to harass borrowers by their handlers in Nepal, officials from the Mumbai Crime Cyber Cell said on Thursday. Branch. Police arrested Raju Bhanwarlal Khadaw last week after his harassment drove a Kurar resident to suicide. Although he hasn’t revealed much about his handlers, the police are using data retrieved from his phone for further investigation.

The Cybernetic Cell of the Northern Region of the Mumbai Criminal Branch investigates the suicide of Sandeep Koregaonkar, a resident of Kurar in Malad. Officers arrested Khadaw from Gajsinghpura in Jaipur, Rajasthan on May 29 and also found R14 lakh in his bank account which they believe to be his income from borrower harassment.

Khadaw doesn’t reveal much about his handlers in Nepal, an officer said, adding, “He’s a badass. He is aware of the lawsuits. The Cyber Cell, however, is in the process of requesting Interpol’s assistance in obtaining more details about the suspects operating from Nepal.

He hid

Police tracked Khadaw using the Internet Protocol Detail Record (IPDR) and learned that he was using four different cell phones and four SIM cards. He had masked his identity using a virtual private network (VPN). “He used a mobile phone for the internet and the phones he used to make calls were connected to the internet via a hotspot. He is tech-savvy and knows the VPN makes it a bit difficult for law enforcement to track down the source,” said an officer with knowledge of the investigation.

Khadaw and others sat under a tree for hours a day, making calls and sending messages. Representation photo

training to harass

Khadaw also used a family member’s SIM card and downloaded WhatsApp to his cell phone to make harassing calls, officers said. According to sources, on average, Khadaw made around 100 calls a day to harass borrowers on the HelloCash lending app.

Managers trained him to make loan collection calls, officers said. “The calls were made via WhatsApp. He had deleted all call logs. One of the phone numbers found on him was used to make calls to Koregaonkar,” they added.

Harassment pay

He received a handsome salary, transferred through different bank accounts and UPI IDs. “We found over R14 lakh in his account which is fraudulent in nature. He belongs to a middle class family. He doesn’t even have an explanation for the huge amount of money found in his account,” an officer said.

Handlers in Nepal

“Apart from him, we have obtained the details of two other suspects, through technical analysis. They are operating from Nepal, and we are in the process of taking assistance from Interpol through the CBI, which is the nodal agency,” the officer said. Khadaw is in the custody of Cyber Cell until today (Friday). Police will seek his custody to learn more about the dog handlers and their modus operandi.

Khadaw, a bachelor’s degree holder and teacher by profession, lives with his parents and wife, who were unaware of his crime, officers said. The police arrested him after Koregaonkar committed suicide following constant harassment from him. Khadaw had shared transformed photos on WhatsApp with a message saying that Koregaonkar had raped and killed a 12-year-old girl.

Jamtara modus operandi

Other officers who were spoken to at midday said the loan app racket uses the same modus operandi used by Jamtara phishing scammers. Police suspect the involvement of several officers, mostly unemployed, since the first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020.

“In Gajsinghpura from where we caught Khadaw, we talked to the locals. They told us that Khadaw and three-four of his friends met under a tree every day after 9 a.m., and remained glued to their cell phones until 6-7 p.m. The youths told the villagers that they were playing Dream 11 betting games and winning hundreds of thousands of rupees.

“They were instead sending threatening messages, according to details collected from Khadaw’s cellphone. We only have evidence against Khadaw. We are investigating to verify if his friends were also involved,” an officer said.

“We believe Khadaw was active in the loan app scam since the first lockdown.” Speaking about his bank details, the officer said, “Khadaw sent money to two other people in Odisha and Pune. By the time our teams visited these two sites, the accused had fled. They were staying in hotels and had used false documents.

“We believe there are several recovery agents across India who did reconnaissance during the lockdown and selected more unemployed people for the scam, and Khadaw was hired by one of them. We found out that Khadaw had been expelled from the school where he worked as a sports teacher,” the officer said.

What is Jamtara scam

In one of the most common cyber scams, young people from Jamtara in Jharkhand called people, asking them for KYC details or bank account updates and in the process tricked them. These callers also secured remote access to their victims’ mobile phones by asking them to download an app, and looted thousands of rupees from them.

Rs 14L
the amount found in Khadaw’s account

100
Number of daily calls from Khadaw