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Bengaluru: A grieving female robotics engineer working as a senior consultant in a reputed company has been arrested by the Bengaluru Cyber Crime Police for sending fake emails containing bomb threats to several schools across the city and the country, police said on Thursday.
The accused, identified as Rene Joshilda, 30, originally from Gujarat, had allegedly sent bomb threat emails to at least seven schools in Bengaluru as well as educational institutions in Chennai, Hyderabad, Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana – a total of 11 states, police said.
According to investigators, the woman used VPN services to hide her location and sent the emails using a virtual mobile number obtained through an app called “Get Code”. The officials also found out that she was running six to seven WhatsApp accounts under different identities to execute her plan.
Investigation revealed that the accused was in love with a man named Prabhakar, but their relationship turned sour after Prabhakar married another woman in February. Acting out of anger and revenge, he allegedly sent her bomb threat emails using her name with the intent to implicate or embarrass her.
Police found that he had sent 21 fake bomb threats in Gujarat and six in Bengaluru, as well as similar messages in several other states. His actions caused widespread panic and security alerts in many schools across India.
In a shocking twist, the woman had also falsely claimed responsibility for the “Ahmedabad-London plane crash”. He sent an email saying that a Boeing plane flying from Ahmedabad to London had exploded, which was later confirmed by officials as a completely fabricated claim.
After falsely claiming a plane crash, she reportedly sent another email to a school, which read: “I think you know the power – just like we sent you an email yesterday. We crashed the Air India plane with our former CM Vijay Rupani on board. We know the police might have thought the plane crash was a hoax and ignored it – so good to our pilot. Now you know we’re not playing.”
Investigators later confirmed that he himself had sent the email using a fake online identity.
Following a series of such threats in Bengaluru, Police Commissioner Seemantha Kumar Singh formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to trace the culprit. The team was led by Joint Commissioner of Police (West) Vamshi Krishna and DCP (North) Nemagowda, with CEN ACP Pawan serving as the investigating officer.
Police said the accused was earlier arrested by the Chennai Police for similar crimes and a coordinated inter-state investigation is now underway.
Given the technical expertise of the accused and the widespread panic caused by his emails, officials described the case as one of the most complex cyber frauds in recent times.
Karnataka Police had taken the accused into its custody through body warrant from Ahmedabad jail. He had confessed to his role in connection with the fake bomb threat case reported from Kalasipalya police station limits. After investigation, the accused was sent back to Gujarat jail.
Joshilda was arrested by Gujarat Police in June. He had threatened to blow up 21 places in and around Ahmedabad, including the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera.
Accused Rene Joshilda lived in Chennai and had studied BE Electrical. She earlier worked in a tech company in Bengaluru.
–IANS