The lack of any laws governing private detective agencies, overlapping of its domain with official law and order agencies, and the back-to-back unearthing of two call detail record (CDR) rackets — both involving detective agencies — is being seen as symptomatic of a larger problem by the Delhi Police.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav, whose teams have been behind busting both the modules, opines that more private detective agencies could be involved in accessing call details as these are the ones which are directly approached by the people.
“For a private detective agency, it is relatively easier to gather call records rather than collate information through snooping, which entails groundwork and considerable investment of time and money,” said Mr. Yadav.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Delhi Police had limited the number of official e-mail ids authorised to seek these details after the Arun Jaitley CDR case, involving some of their own men, rocked the country. So far the force has been successful in preventing any misuse.
The entry of private detective agencies, which use the lack of such checks and balances in other States to their advantage, has changed the dynamics of snooping.
ADVERTISEMENT
In the recently busted modules, cops from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have been found to be involved.
Sensitive information
“Now there are thousands of agencies with a well-oiled network. Policemen with the knowhow of investigations join them and provide an edge as they come with the authorisation to seek details. The telecom companies do not question them much and readily share information. They can also access details from other circles. So while police has jurisdiction over Delhi, we cannot do much if the leakage of information about Delhiites happens from Tamil Nadu, for instance. This is happening and may become rampant, detection of such leaks will be impossible,” he said.
Another no-go area which these agencies have entered is accessing bank details, which are not only confidential, but also makes the accounts vulnerable to financial frauds or other forms of cheating. “Usually these details are sought by corporations, but bank details of hundreds of accounts are retrieved even if the brief was about specific clients,” said another senior police officer.