SUV bomb scare case: Who the hell is ‘Kurkure Balaji’? NIA asks Apple

Param Bir Singh. File pic/Ashish Raje

Former police chief, Param Bir Singh, who is under the scanner in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case and murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran, is suspected to have been hiding behind a FaceTime ID, which has his first name as Kurkure and last name as Balaji. During the investigation, NIA got the FaceTime ID connected to the Google account which was used to communicate the murder of Hiran, a fallout of the Antilia case.

The 10,000-pages charge sheet has various details including the response received from Apple, the American multinational, about the suspected Facetime ID, which corroborates the statement of one of the intelligence officers closely associated with Singh since 2006. The first and last name of the Facetime ID is same as what Apple has shared with NIA and what the intelligence officer has said in his statement to the agency.

‘Singh changed his handset'

The intelligence officer, Joseph D'Silva, in the first week of April, called a person with a few mobile phones as Singh wanted to change his handset. Singh selected an iPhone. While recording his statement before NIA, the intelligence officer said that as there was no network inside Singh's DG Home Guard office, the person who was activating the Facetime ID came out and he entered the ID and password on Singh's iPhone. "I typed the password first name was Kurkure and last name Balaji was used while creating iPhone ID, he has used this name because at that time Balaji Kurkure pack was kept in office. At present I don't remember the password but normally his password may be Param@'' and roBBy@'' which can be easier to remember (sic)," the intelligence officer said in his statement to NIA.

Former CP Param Bir Singh is under the scanner in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case and murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran. File pic/Ashish Raje

The agency has been investigating the involvement of a key suspect in the case who is suspected to have secret communication with the arrested accused and others. In a letter dated July 8, 2021, the agency has written to the nodal officer of Apple India Private Limited. The agency has given details of the Antilia case and Mansukh Hiran murder case and stated, "During the investigation, it has come on record that one suspected person (from Mumbai state) was in communication with their associates including arrested accused through Facetime application which is associated with Google account i.e. ''''''@gmail.com for a secret chat communication to execute the plan of killing one person in instant crime (sic)."

After following all the legal procedures and requirements, Apple responded to the agency on July 20, 2021, saying, "In response to your request received by Apple on July 8, Apple is providing this file, this file is a true copy of the available data Apple has using the criteria and information provided in the legal request."

Apple shares details

Apple has shared the call log details of the suspected ID from the period February 20, 2021 to June 15, 2021. Apple in its response to NIA said that the first name of the suspected ID is Kurkure and the last name is Balaji. The intelligence officer, in his statement on August 13 to NIA, also said that the first name of Singh's FaceTime ID was Kurkure and last name was Balaji. However, the intelligence officer didn't mentioned the email ID which NIA suspects. The two email IDs of Singh given by the intelligence officer to NIA were different from the suspected one.

While writing to Apple, NIA asked it to preserve the data of the said FaceTime account for a period of 180 days until the agency sends it a specific request, as they were investigating the involvement of a key suspect in the case who is suspected to have secret communication with the arrested accused and others.

The NIA had requested Apple on July 8 to share details of the account to expedite the investigation, including IP details of cloud ID, registration details, product purchase details along with store information from where the handset was bought, Google account name and date of registration, handset details model and version, its IMEI detail and any other relevant information. The details were provided by Apple to NIA on July 20 with shocking information that points to Param Bir Singh who has not been seen for the past few months. mid-day again tried to reach out to Singh but his mobile phone is switched off.