Ahmedabad police arrest four in RTO hacking scam

The Cyber cell of Ahmedabad police on Friday arrested four accused for hacking into the Vastral RTO software and adding driving license data.

The accused have been identified as Jignesh Modi (30), Gaurav Sapodiya (28), Sandeep Makwana (29) and Sanket Rafaliya. The complaint was lodged by Pritesh Solanki, assistant regional transport officer of Vastral RTO, on May 18.

The crime came to light when Solanki found new entries made on Sarathi software (which contains license holders' data) on a non-working day for the RTO. He found a total of 120 new entries made on December 24 and 25 last year, using Solanki's ID and password.

The new applicants got license from the RTO after submitting applications for duplicate license or changing address on them. When interrogated, they revealed the accused's names. Jignesh and Sanket were arrested from in Ahmedabad, Gaurav from Jamnagar and Sandeep from Rajkot.

Rajdeep Zala, DCP of Cyber cell, said, "Gaurav bought a keylogger device from Poland to hack the RTO's software. Through that, he accessed the RTO's computers from Jamnagar and added new data."

Apart from hacking the licensing department's computers, Solanki's password and ID were also stolen.

The accused would charge applicants Rs 6,500-20,000 for a license. Gaurav would add data on the software, while Jignesh and Sanket gave applications to the RTO, and Sandeep used to get customers for Gaurav.

Although the four have been arrested, cops suspect RTO officials' involvement.