MUMBAI: The primary clue that Mumbai police’s Crime Intelligence Unit had concerning the psychology of the particular person threatening India’s wealthiest man got here within the topic line of the third e-mail they despatched to Mukesh Ambani’s workplace. ‘Catch Me If You Can’, it stated, referencing Steven Spielberg’s 2002 movie loosely primarily based on the lifetime of conman Frank Abagnale.
The particular person threatening the Reliance Industries’ chairman was clearly a exhibit. Armed with that information a few chink of their armour, the Mumbai police started the hunt for Ambani’s nameless tormentor. Over 5 consecutive days, beginning October twenty seventh, Ambani’s workplace obtained emails from a Mailfence account threatening to kill the 66-year-old billionaire if he didn’t pay up. The demand for cash which began with ₹20 crore escalated to ₹200 crore after which to ₹400 crore. The third mail additionally mocked the Mumbai police’s incapability to catch the sender.
Additionally Learn: Two college students arrested for sending extortion emails to Mukesh Ambani
When he was finally caught from Kalol in Gujarat, it turned out that the sender of these mails was not a hardened legal however a 21-year-old third yr scholar of B.com, Rajveer Khant, who needed to point out off his technical prowess to his pals. Khant, the son of a head constable with Kalol police, used a VPN (Digital Non-public Community) to open a Mailfence account, in any other case unavailable in India, to masks his Web Protocol (IP) deal with. There are solely 500 customers of mailfence in India however the Crime Intelligence Unit quickly discovered that solely 150 of them have been in energetic use. After monitoring the actions on all of them the cops zeroed in on considered one of them which had been lately arrange. “We discovered that solely this account was in use within the time that the Reliance Industries’ chairman bought these threats,” stated an investigating officer unwilling to be quoted by identify.
“The subsequent problem was to determine the IP deal with of the machine utilized by the sender of these emails,” stated the officer. “Khant used to surf the darkish internet all through the evening. He used to shuffle his IP deal with from one nation to a different by altering Digital Non-public Networks (VPN) masking his web protocol (IP) deal with making it tough for us to hint him,” he added.
Nonetheless, whereas shifting from totally different providers and digital non-public networks, he briefly uncovered his actual web protocol deal with to the cops who have been scrutinizing his account 24/7.
Additionally Learn: Mukesh Ambani receives two extra threatening emails from identical sender
The faculty scholar had created the account on Mailfence.com within the identify of Shadab Khan. He later informed the cops that he considered the identify whereas watching the Pakistani batsman of the identical identify throughout the Pakistan-South Africa match on October 27, the day he despatched out his first mail to Ambani’s workplace.
Khant informed the cops that he had been assured that the police wouldn’t have the ability to hint him as Mailfence doesn’t share particulars of its customers, and he had masked his Web Protocol (IP) deal with.
The CIU, headed by senior inspector Milind Kate, additionally found throughout their investigation that the 21-year-old had despatched an identical electronic mail to a different prime Mumbai industrialist demanding ₹100 crore. The industrialist who has not registered an FIR will quickly be recording his assertion within the case. “It seems that Khant needed to problem the police since he didn’t point out any account particulars for cash to be deposited in,” stated the investigating officer.
Additionally Learn: Mukesh Ambani receives demise menace, electronic mail calls for ₹200 crore
On Saturday, the identical day they arrested Khant from Kalol, the Gamdevi police arrested a 19-year-old from Warangal, Ganesh Ramesh Venaparthi, who had despatched an identical electronic mail to Mukesh Ambani demanding ₹500 crores. Nonetheless, in contrast to Khant who went to the difficulty of organising an electronic mail and hiding his IP, Venaparthi despatched the mail from his Gmail account. He later informed the CIU cops that he had watched a tv information report concerning the varied threats to Mukesh Ambani and needed to see what occurs when one threatens India’s wealthiest man.
He and Khant are each in CIU custody and have been booked beneath Part 387 (Inflicting somebody concern of demise and grievous damage with a purpose to commit extortion) and 506 (2) of the Indian Penal Code which additionally offers with legal intimidation. Punishment beneath these sections can lengthen to a jail time period of seven years.