Love, revenge & fake emails: How 'heartbroken' Chennai techie sent bomb threat mails to 21 schools across state to trap ex-boyfriend

BENGALURU: A 30-year-old engineering graduate arrested by the Ahmedabad cybercrime branch for sending bomb threat emails to at least 21 schools across different states, including Bengaluru and Mysuru, was taken into police custody by Bengaluru police on a body warrant on Oct 28 and was returned to the same prison on Oct 31.

Accused Rene Joshilda had sent the mails using multiple IDs under the name of Prabhakar, her ex-lover, in an attempt to implicate him. A native of Chennai with a BE in electrical engineering, she was with Deloitte’s Chennai branch.

Woman hoped former lover’s wife would leave if he were arrested

Joshilda fell out with Prabhakar after which he married another woman, but Joshilda wanted to win him back. She allegedly plotted to defame him and get him arrested so that his wife would leave him.

There were seven cases registered against Joshilda in the city. She created multiple email IDs using a virtual private network (VPN) and procured virtual mobile numbers through the Gate Code application, which she used to open around seven WhatsApp accounts.

After creating the fake email IDs in the name of Prabhakar, she searched for school email addresses and sent threatening messages to schools in June, but her cyber trail was traced, leading to her arrest.

Cases were registered in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysuru, and Bengaluru police stations. In Bengaluru, she sent bomb threatening emails to private schools in the central business district, Kalasipalya, and North Bengaluru. The cases were transferred to the assistant commissioner of police, North CEN crime police station.

During investigation, police discovered Joshilda’s involvement. Her laptop and mobile phone were seized by Ahmedabad police. A senior officer said that Joshilda had visited Bengaluru a few times for office events, but she lived and worked in Chennai.

One of the email IDs created by her was ‘divijpprabhakaralaksmi@gmail.com’. She threatened to kill the school principal, staff, and children by exploding a bomb. Police cases were registered under the Information Technology Act and Section 351 (criminal intimidat ion) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
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