Bengaluru police grill woman techie linked to hoax bomb mails

BENGALURU: The city police interrogated a 30-year-old woman techie, on body warrant from the Gujarat police, in connection with hoax bomb emails sent to seven schools in the city. G Rene Joshilda, an electrical engineer from Chennai, was taken into custody on body warrant on October 28. The police said the accused has confessed to her involvement in the Kalasipalya case as well as six other hoax bomb threat cases in Bengaluru. The police said she is involved in similar cases in Gujarat, Mysuru, and Chennai. After the three-day custody, the accused was sent back to the Central Prison in Ahmedabad. She was arrested a few months back by the Gujarat police in a similar case. The police are checking if she is wanted in any other cases in the state. The accused was found to have used VPN services to access the internet and obtained virtual mobile numbers through an application called Get Code. Using these, she reportedly operated six to seven WhatsApp accounts. Joshilda was obsessed with her male colleague but he married another woman. In order to take revenge against him, she reportedly used his identity and online credentials to frame him in the bomb threat cases. She reportedly sent the threat emails to schools, stadiums, and hospitals in more than 10 states. Joshilda had previously worked in a software company in the city. On June 14, this year, at around 10.16 pm, a bomb threat message was sent to the official email ID of the school principal in Kalasipalya police station limits. As per the directions of the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner, the case registered at Kalasipalya Police Station, along with other hoax bomb threat cases reported in the city, was transferred to the North Division Cyber Crime Police. The Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime, North Division) was appointed as the chief investigating officer, and the Police Inspector (Cyber Crime) as the assistant investigating officer. During the course of probe, the North Division Cyber Crime Police traced the sender of the threatening email to a woman lodged in the Central Prison at Ahmedabad, Gujarat.