Internet calls helped Basodi evade scrutiny by police

The gangster used voice-over internet protocol and international numbers to make extortion and threat calls, say police

GURUGRAM: As Raju Basodi was arrested on Saturday, details have surfaced about how the 35-year-old gangster made extortion calls to businessmen and industrialists in India without coming under the police’s radar.

The police said Basodi used internet-based calls to ensure his whereabouts could not be traced.

A police officer, privy to the investigation, said, “He used voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to make extortion and threat calls. He always used virtual numbers, i.e., a number without a directly associated line, to make the businessmen feel that they are getting calls from outside India, and to evade arrest. Basodi used to make calls through international numbers. More than 200 cases of extortion, blackmailing and threat calls are registered against him in five states.”

According to the police, Basodi, who was arrested by a special task force (STF) team of the Haryana Police from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi, was just 23-year-old when he entered the crime world.

Police said Basodi used to pay through credit cards to buy virtual numbers online, and none of the cards were issued on his name.

He would spend nearly ₹10,000

a month to buy new numbers and applications, the police said, adding that he used to change the numbers frequently.

The entire gang was connected through these numbers to ensure police could not track these international calls, the police said.

“We had contacted the service providers of the numbers he was using, but these service providers were beyond the geographical boundary of our country and did not readily furnish logs and details of the user. These days, gangsters are mostly using virtual numbers,” said another police official.

“Basodi bought virtual numbers through credit cards from different areas because when one buys these numbers they were asked for area code of the location from where they want the calls to be generated. Many criminals and hackers are using virtual numbers these days to threaten their victims and dupe them,” said the official.

Meanwhile, the Haryana Police officials, who had been camping in Thailand since January this year, returned on Friday night after submitting documents related to all cases against Basodi to Thailand officials.

Basodi had been staying in Thailand since May 2017 on a tourist visa, under the assumed identity of Gurveer Singh of Punjab. This was revealed after his arrest on Saturday, the police said.