From Nawazuddin Siddiqui to Kangana Ranaut: Why Bollywood celebs are being named in CDR scam
All those who were arrested are private detectives with a clientele of Bollywood and political heavyweights
The call detail record (CDR) scam, which grabbed national headlines after names of prominent Bollywood stars cropped up for illegally procuring call details, is getting murkier by the day.
What started with allegations that actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui snooped around to obtain his wife's phone information, has now also thrown up the names of Kangana Ranaut and Jackie Shroff's wife Ayesha. Both women as well as Siddiqui have denied the charges.
While investigation by Maharashtra's Thane crime branch of police is underway and it is yet to be proved whether the Bollywood stars were part of it, the scam surely has brought to the fore how private detectives in Maharashtra are running a racket of trading personal information.
According to various reports, involvement of Bollywood celebrities in the scam cannot be ruled out as CDR data is sought for various purposes, including blackmailing. Seeking CDR data for matrimonial purposes is also not uncommon.
What is call detail record
It is an all-round data regarding a phone call. It includes information of who made a call to whom, the duration, whether it was an international call and others. The ongoing investigation in the scam involves private detectives, including a celebrity lawyer, who were found procuring CDR data illegally and selling it to their clients. One CDR data costs anything between Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000. For investigation, cops too need such details. But for that, they need approval and signature from any DCP-level officer on the application paper. Procuring CDR from the service providers without such an approval is not possible.
How was the scam unearthed
In February, four private detectives, all residents of Thane, were arrested. Rajani Pandit, touted to be Maharashtra's first woman private detective, was also arrested in the same case. As many more arrests were made, it emerged that some of the accused were also using fraudulent email ids, mostly impersonating police officers, to get call records. All those who were arrested are private detectives with a clientele of Bollywood and political heavyweights. Roles of former police informers and cops are also being suspected.
Bollywood links: Nawazuddin, Kangana, Ayesha Shroff
With the arrest of Rizwan Siddiqui, lawyer of actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui and many other Bollywood personalities, the B-town link to the scam came to the fore. It was alleged that Rizwan obtained the CDR of Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s wife from one of the arrested private investigators. Siddiqui's wife denied the allegations and defended the actor.
Following this, Telugu actress Akruti Nagpal filed a police complaint against Rizwan Siddiqui. She accused him of misusing her personal information. Rizwan is representing Akruti’s husband in their divorce case. The actress said it was only after she came across the news of Rizwan Siddiqui's involvement in the scam that she understood her personal information were also compromised.
The case didn't end there. It stoked up the big fight between Kangana Rnaut and Hrithik Roshan as police claimed to have found Kangana's SMS on Rizwab's cellphone. Hrithik Roshan’s cell number is allegedly mentioned in that message. Kangana’s alleged involvement in this scam created ripples as the big fight between the duo saw both of them hurling charges of snooping against each other.
When we respond to a notice,we give all details to lawyer. To assume that these details were used to violate law & make statements based on that assumption, & defame an artist is super lame @abtrimukhe . Full investigation should be carried out before making assumptions. https://t.co/5YdYEZJ1b2
— Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) March 21, 2018
Ayesha Shroff’s name cropped up in the scam after it was found that CDR of actor Sahil Khan was exchanged between Ayesha and lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui. Ayesha Shroff allegedly had an affair with Sahil Khan and following a dispute between them, Ayesha allegedly sought Sahil’s CDR. Both Kangana and Ayesha denied the allegations, but police expect more big names to come out.
As always, Bollywood never fails to make headlines.