Four months on, police yet to arrest man's I-T account hacker

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Nearly four months after the Charkop police booked a Gujarat-based income tax consultant advocate and his sister for allegedly hacking into his brother-in-law's tax declaration statement account, there has been no progress in the probe, the victim has alleged.

Police sources said Manoj Chauhan, 33, had lodged a complaint with the Bandra cyber cell last year, after which the cell had asked a forensic report from Bengaluru. The report indicated that the account had been hacked from Gujarat, with IP address of the accused, Hitesh Rathod.

The case
Charkop resident Chauhan, who works as a manager in a well-known five-star hotel in Mumbai, told mid-day, "Hitesh's sister, ie my wife, and I have been locked in a domestic dispute. She wants a divorce and a compensation of Rs 25 lakh." Citing financial incapability, the victim had refused to pay the hefty compensation.

But the brother-sister duo hacked into the account to produce documents in court to show financial capability, alleged Chauhan, who had lodged a complaint with the Charkop police on December 23, 2017.

He is now alleging that the police failed to investigate the matter properly and arrest the accused, adding that they didn't file a charge sheet in the case even after three months.

In defence
Rathod, however, told mid-day that the income tax declaration statement is a public document, and Chauhan's wife has every right to take it out.While asked about the slow investigation and delay in the arrest of the accused, senior inspector Pramod Dhavare said, "I need to check the case first and who the investigating officer is. Only then I can find out why the delay and comment on it."

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