CDR fraud: Rajani Pandit sent to judicial custody

Mumbai: A holiday court in Thane on Sunday remanded 65-year-old Rajani Pandit, known as India’s first woman private detective, to judicial custody. The Thane crime branch had arrested Pandit from her house at Shivaji Park in Dadar on February 2, for allegedly procuring call data records (CDR) through illegal means.

The prosecution had sought Pandit’s further custody on the grounds that they need to VERIFY the owners of the numbers whose CDRs were illegally procured by the accused. The police also wants to identify other people involved in the alleged CDR fraud. The police will also go through various CDs and laptops found at Pandit’s possession.

Advocate Madhav Thorat had opposed the request of crime branch seeking a further extension of the police custody.  

He had argued that the accused is 65 years old and she is also suffering from various ailments like high sugar and high blood pressure. He had contended that the complaint against her was not maintainable, as CDR are not confidential documents.

He added that even section 420 is not applicable because there was no wrong loss or gain to anybody and there is no aggrieved party in the case.