The Mumbai Crime Branch has filed a chargesheet against Rajveer Jagatsingh Khant (20) and Ganesh R Vanparthi (19) – the two college students who had sent threat emails to Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani demanding a huge sum.
Khant and Vanarthi were arrested from Gujarat and Telangana, respectively, in November last year.
The accused had sent separate threat emails demanding ₹20 crore, then ₹400 crore and ₹500 crore.
At the time of arrest, Khant, the son of a Gujarat police head constable, was studying in his third-year of commerce in Gujarat's Kalol. The accused, who is also a tech-savvy internet enthusiast, was arrested by the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU).
"Catch Me If You Can," said Khant, challenging the authorities in one of his emails sent from virtual private networks (VPNs) to hide his locations.
For one of his email accounts, he had used 'Shadab Khan' name after watching a cricket World Cup match.
Whereas, Vanaparthi is a computer science student from Warangal.
The police submitted the chargesheet against the accused for extortion, criminal intimidation and destruction of evidence under the IPC, as well as relevant sections of the IT Act, reported TOI.
Khant sent five emails to Ambani between 27 October and 1 November 2023, with escalating demands ranging from ₹20 crore to ₹400 crore. Vanaparthi, acting independently, sent a single email to Ambani on 1 November, demanding ₹500 crore, reported Hindustan Times, citing a chargesheet.
Vanaparthi, acting independently, sent a single email to Ambani on 1 November, demanding ₹500 crore.
Although both the threats were sent separately, since they both had a common target, cops clubbed the investigations and submitted the chargesheet, TOI quoted a senior police officer as saying.
Before their arrest, both Khant and Vanaparthi had already deleted all items from the outbox.
The accused had used Mailfence and ProtonMail, which provide secure and private email services.
