Private Detective, software developer arrested for spying on mobiles

Bangalore: Two persons were arrested today for allegedly snooping on mobile phones of people living across India after a raid on a security and detective services agency here, police said. The accused, Nikhil Giri and Virendra Singh Rawat, were arrested by the Central Crime Branch following raids on Lynx Security and Detective Services Private Limited on October 30, police said. During the raid, CCB officials seized documents and registers of the office which confirmed the firm’s involvement in snooping activities using software installed on mobile phones, police said. [caption id=“attachment_1215381” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Reuters[/caption] Computers, hard discs, mobile phones, Android application package, cash and other records have been seized from the security agency. A case has been registered under various sections of Information Technology Act, Indian Telegraph Act and Indian Penal Code, they said. The modus operandi of the security agency was that it used the services of a mobile software developer in Pune, who had with the help of code writers, developed such snooping software for Android and Blackberry-based smartphones. The Pune-based software developer in turn had tied up with a company based in Peru to co-develop and host the developed software on their servers, police said. The software development was funded by Peruvian nationals Roberto Martinez and Piero Meza of www.controlem.com, police said. After the software was fully developed, it enabled Pune software developer to use the software in India, police said. PTI