A 60-year-old man running a private detective agency in Delhi for nearly 25 years has been arrested by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police for illegally procuring call detail records (CDR). Tarun Vincent Daniel, the accused, was allegedly introduced to procuring CDR details two to three years ago by two men from Gurgaon, noted the FIR. He procured such records for over 100 clients since then, and was caught red-handed when police laid a trap, officials added. None of Daniel’s alleged associates have been arrested yet.
On June 29, the Crime Branch received a tip-off that a detective agency in Vikaspuri was procuring call detail records in an unauthorised manner. The Crime Branch team decided to send a decoy client to Daniel’s agency to nab Daniel red-handed, said officials.
The decoy client requested Daniel to procure the CDR details of a number, to which Daniel quoted a price of Rs. 60,000. The client transferred Rs. 29,000 as an advance payment and promised that he’d pay the rest once the details were delivered to him. On July 17, Daniel transferred the details to him and requested him to pay the rest of the money that was owed for the service. The decoy client told him that he’d give the money to Daniel in cash and that they should meet the next day near Dwarka Mor metro station. When Daniel arrived at the metro station on July 18, he was arrested by the police.
“The accused made an excuse regarding his health and refused to give any more information regarding his associates. He also told us that he’d left his call him at his home in Uttam Nagar,” said the FIR. Police retrieved his phone from his house and took Daniel to the Crime Branch police station for interrogation.
During questioning, Daniel allegedly revealed he had been approached by Anurag and Arjun, two residents of Gurgaon, two to three years ago, who’d told him that they’d be able to help him procure call detail records in an unauthorised manner. They had also put him in touch with Sanjay, a resident of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, who allegedly worked in a telecom firm. Daniel revealed that he had provided such details to almost 100 clients.
Daniel has been running a detective agency called AD Detective since 1996. According to his agency’s website, Daniel had a “long experience of investigation combined with administrative experience in the detective field”. His agency offered a host of services including pre-matrimonial investigation, spousal fidelity investigation, handwriting and fingerprint checks.
Private investigating agencies function in a legally grey area in India, as per experts. There are no laws that set down rules, regulations, and licensing. In 2007, the Private Detective Agency Regulation Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha that set down licensing requirements and qualifications for private investigators. “The Bill restricted foreign agencies from working in India by capping foreign agents to own up to 49% of the company and denying them the provision of being a part of the board of directors,” said Kunwar Vikram Singh, Chairman, the Association of Professional Detectives and Investigators (APDI).
The Bill was eventually sent to the Standing Committee where it languished for years, said Singh, implying that foreign agencies had lobbied for the Bill to not be passed. “A few years ago the current government withdrew the Bill from the Parliament. We’ve asked them to consider reintroducing it soon with changes. If the Bill passes, everyone will have to get licenses. Till then, agencies will continue working from this legally grey area,” said Singh.
According to the APDI Chairman, getting call detail records is a difficult task. “Many information brokers work in the market to whom you can ask for details. These brokers set up their networks and they know people in the market who can procure these details for a price. There are many middlemen involved in this. In a city like Delhi, you can find many such people,” said Singh.
Police have booked Daniel, Arjun, Anurag, Sanjay, and Harsh under Bhartiya Nyaya Samhita sections 316(5) (criminal breach of trust) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy).
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