Police arrests Tamil Nadu ‘hacker’ in extortion case

The cyber cell of the Mumbai police has arrested a 45-year-old resident of Tamil Nadu in connection with an extortion case.

The accused, identified as Sunder Mahakrishnan Rajan, had demanded '1 crore from a bank manager by threatening to share financial data he had obtained by “hacking”.

Police officers said the complainant worked in a reputed bank in the city, headquartered at the Bandra-Kurla Complex.

A few days ago, his bank received a mail on the company’s group ID informing it that the sender of the mail had personal information of as many as 20,000 of its customers. “The mail was received on June 24, and the sender had asked for a reply pronto,” said a police officer, who did not wish to be named.

Later, on June 26, the bank received a mail again stating that many had expressed interest in purchasing the hacked data of bank accounts. It further stated that if the bank wished to protect its customers’ information, it would have to pay up Rs 1 crore.

“The mail mentioned details of six closed and 11 running bank accounts to make its claims credible,” said the officer. Following this mail, a complaint was lodged with the cyber cell of the police.

During investigations, officers discovered that all the mails were sent by a mobile phone that belonged to one Jegan Devdas, who lived in Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, bank officials received a call from the sender of the mail asking them to come to Dahisar check naka with Rs 1 crore on Sunday, said the police. However, no one turned up, the police said.

The bank officials then received another phone call on Wednesday and this time the accused called them to Chinar Hotel near Bandra. Following this, a few policemen were deployed in the area in plain clothes.

Rajan arrived at the spot Wednesday evening and was immediately arrested. During interrogation, he accepted the crime. The police is now trying to find out if he was working with a gang or had accomplices.

Rajan was later produced in court on Thursday and the court remanded him in police custody till August 10.