‘Rakesh Shetty procured CDRs illegally by hiring a man and blackmailing a police officer’

Bengaluru

Power TV Managing Director (MD) Rakesh Shetty allegedly procured Call Detail Records (CDRs) of his targets illegally on several occasions, a highly placed source in the special team probing the sting scam exclusively told blrpost.com.

The special team, comprising Central Crime Branch (CCB) and Cyber Crime Police officials, arrested a Delhi-based man, Ritesh Pandey, on Saturday. The team has questioned over 50 people, and the whistleblower has been issued a witness notice. The whistleblower was talking to this website which exposed the Karnataka sting scam. 

The team also searched the witness’s house. Meanwhile, Rakesh Shetty has secured interim anticipatory bail, despite claiming during his live show that he would not apply for bail. During the show, he also admitted to orchestrating the sting video that mentions Siddaramaiah’s name.

Karnataka’s CD boy: Shetty allegedly procured CDRs illegally

A highly placed source in the special team said that Rakesh Shetty allegedly procured CDRs illegally by hiring a man identified as Patil. Patil is a private individual with certain technical skills who allegedly supplied CDRs of various people to Shetty. The source remarked that Shetty was not the king of sting operations and should instead be given a more appropriate sobriquet: Karnataka’s CD boy.

The source further said Shetty allegedly provided Patil with the names of people whose CDRs he wanted and paid him for the records. These CDRs were then allegedly used for various wrongful purposes.

Besides hiring Patil, Shetty had allegedly conducted a sting operation targeting a police officer in Mysuru. Following the sting, he allegedly began blackmailing the officer and procured CDRs, the source said.

This means the special team may have to add new sections to the existing First Information Report and expand the scope of its investigation.

CDR rules

It should be noted that the Karnataka High Court has reinforced strict privacy safeguards governing the collection of CDRs by the Karnataka Police, reiterating that phone records are protected under the fundamental right to privacy. Law enforcement agencies cannot arbitrarily access a citizen’s private telecommunications data without an active, legally registered criminal investigation and explicit justification.

Under the state’s stringent regulatory protocol, lower-ranking field officers are prohibited from directly seeking data from telecom operators. Instead, an investigating officer must draft a formal application linking the requested CDRs to an active First Information Report (FIR). The application requires mandatory multi-tier clearance, passing through the Station Inspector and Assistant Commissioner of Police before receiving final authorisation from a Deputy Commissioner or Superintendent of Police.

To obtain records from service providers, authorities rely on Section 94 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023. For court admissibility, telecom companies must certify electronic records under Section 63(4) of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023. To prevent illegal surveillance, all procured data must be logged and submitted monthly to the District Magistrate and the State Chief Secretary, ensuring institutional accountability.