TV
In a breakthrough in a months-long investigation, Gujarat Police recently arrested a 30-year-old Chennai-based robotics engineer who allegedly sent a series of hoax bomb threats across 11 Indian states and falsely claimed responsibility for the deadly Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad.
The accused, Rene Joshilda, a senior consultant at a multinational firm, is now at the centre of a complex cybercrime case that spans multiple jurisdictions and has raised concerns about psychological manipulation thanks to a failed love angle to the case.
Personal Vendetta Behind Coordinated Threat Campaign
According to The Times of India, police revealed that Joshilda’s elaborate campaign was driven by a personal grudge. Her target was a former colleague, Divij Prabhakar, who did not return her affections and married someone else earlier this year.
Investigators allege that Joshilda used her technical expertise to create numerous fake email IDs using variations of his name, with the intent to frame him in the bomb threat cases.
The emails, laced with disturbing threats, targeted schools, hospitals, stadiums, and public institutions in states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Kerala. In several messages, she threatened to blow up locations such as the Narendra Modi Stadium and civil hospitals in Ahmedabad, with at least 21 separate threat emails sent to sites in Ahmedabad alone.
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Chilling Claim Linked to Air India Crash
What stunned authorities even more was a chilling email Joshilda sent to BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad, in which she claimed responsibility for the Air India crash on June 12 that killed at least 274 people.
In the message, she referenced the earlier threats and alleged that the crash was proof of their seriousness. Though the claim was proven false, it created widespread panic and prompted intensified investigations.
Cyber Tools, VPNs, and a Fatal Slip-Up
Joshilda went to great lengths to hide her digital footprint, using the dark web, VPNs, and the Tor browser to create anonymous identities and virtual numbers.
Police believe she purchased over 80 virtual numbers and operated her hoax campaign using highly sophisticated encryption tools. Despite these efforts, a single login error, where she accessed both her real and fake accounts from the same device, led cybercrime units to trace her IP address.
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Officials arrested her at her residence in Chennai, where they seized electronic devices and evidence linking her to the nationwide threats. The case has been described as one of the most complex digital terror hoaxes in recent times.
