Date of Publishing:13/8/2010

Location: Mumbai

20-Year-Old Had Cloned Ghatkopar Bizman's Comp ID For Crime

Mumbai: The 20-year-old youth, arrested by the antiterrorism squad (ATS) on Wednesday for sending emails to private news channels threatening to blow up their offices, had actually cloned the MAC number of someone else’s computer and hence was using his internet protocol (IP) address.

The suspect, Sagar Kashayap, had cloned the MAC number (a computer’s identification number) and copied it on his computer before sending the e-mail. The IP address was allotted to this MAC number which was, in fact, owned by a businessman.

Initially, the police suspected the e-mail could have been sent by the banned outfit, Indian Mujahideen, whose members send such e-mails using unsecured WiFi network. Later, Kashayap—a second-year student of Bachelor in Computer Science—was arrested for sending a threat email, posing as a militant.

"In earlier cases, the police would first detect the IP address which would help them to solve the case. But, here, Kashayap had cloned the MAC number where the IP addresses was allotted and it showed that the IP address belongs to a Ghatkoparbased businessman. We questioned him but he was not the culprit, said an officer.

An ATS team, led by additional commissioner Sukhvindar Singh, and comprising assistant inspector Nasir Kulkarni and Mahesh Parkar had to struggle with around 17,500 users of Wnet, an internet service provider, to nab Kashayap.

Son of a train motorman, Kashayap, resides at Kurla railway quarters. He had sent an e-mail to two private news channels and a computer firm, posing as a militant. He sent the e-mail using an account,yuvraj.patil00@gmail.com and in the e-mail, posed as one Gulam Khan. "Kashayap threatened to blow up his targets on August 12, said an officer.

The police first began hunting for Yuvraj Patil. Soon after he was traced, the police realised that Patil, a pharmaceutical company’s executive, was not the suspect. "Patil told us that on August 3, he had given his login name and password to one of his subordinates, Nalawade. Nalawade also gave a satisfactory reply and the police reached a dead end, the officer added.

Then began a door-to-door search for the culprit since the businessman, Patil and Nalawade’s fate was dependent on the arrest of the real culprit. The police zeroed in on the Line Area Network (LAN) and found that someone from Kurla must have used the IP address. "When we reached Kashayap’s residence, he was about to go to sleep and asked to us to come the next morning. While we were making enquires with his mother, he went in to another room and disconnected the internet connection. While searching his computer, we found some suspicious material and seized it. During sustained questioning, Kashayap admitted to having sent the email, said the officer. Kashayap was booked for impersonation and cyber terrorism. He has been remanded in police custody till August 16. Nigerian gang member held for e-fraud Mumbai: A Malad resident was arrested by the cyber police for allegedly hacking into the net-banking account of an accountant of a private company and siphoning off Rs 2 lakh.

Giriraj Tiwari (28), who is part of a gang of Nigerians, has been arrested for cheating and breach of trust. The complaint was filed by an accountant working for a private firm in Andheri.

In February, the risk control unit office of the ICICI Bank called him and enquired whether he had transferred Rs 2 lakh to other accounts and that, too, in 10 instalments in an hour’s time. The victim went to the bank and the statement showed Rs 2 lakh missing. The bank forwarded his complaint to the cyber cops.

The cops found that three persons were beneficiaries of the siphoned amount. The first beneficiary was a Nigerian national who was arrested last month. The accused revealed that he had used Tiwari’s bank account to siphon off the victim’s money. -S Ahmed Ali I TNN

Web Resource for Reference of the Above Mentioned Article:

• TIMES NEWS NETWORK