Mumbai: In what could spell further trouble for celebrity lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui, arrested last week in connection with the Call Detail Records (CDR) racket by the Thane Police, Telugu actor Aarti Nagpal on Monday told the Thane Police Crime Branch that Mr. Siddiqui might have illegally obtained her CDR and tapped her phone illegally.
Ms. Nagpal, who is in the middle of a divorce from former BMC Assistant Engineer Anil Mistry, visited the Crime Branch on Monday to discuss her case. Mr. Mistry is currently facing a disproportionate assets probe by the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Ms. Nagpal told The Hindu , “Mr. Siddiqui and my husband are close friends. When he filed for divorce in 2014, Mr. Siddiqui submitted several of my telephonic conversations to the court, including with my friends, family and professional contacts, as evidence against me. At the time, I was not aware that my call details cannot be accessed unless I am a criminal. It was only after I read about Mr. Siddiqui’s arrest that I began suspecting he must have tapped my phone. There was no other way he could have obtained that information.”
She subsequently met officials of the Thane Crime Branch Unit I and has been asked to come again on Tuesday so that a formal statement can be recorded.
Crime Branch sources said besides the case for illegally obtaining CDRs against Mr. Siddiqui, a separate probe into alleged illegal phone tapping is also likely. “We will first record Ms. Nagpal’s statement and verify it, after which we will decide on the further course of action,” a Crime Branch officer said.
Meanwhile, a Mumbai-based businessman approached the Crime Branch on Monday, alleging Mr. Siddiqui had leaked his CDR to a business rival. “The businessman has been involved in a professional dispute with one of his rivals, and has claimed that Mr. Siddiqui helped his rival by providing his CDR. We are verifying,” the officer added.
Sources said the possibility of Mr. Siddiqui having sourced CDRs for high profile clients can’t be denied, as he catered to the rich and the famous.
