Obsessive Love, VPNs, 1 Wrong Login: Woman Techie's Bizarre Bomb Hoax Saga

Truth is stranger than fiction, and reality more bizarre than crime shows. In a tale of spurned love tailormade for an OTT series, a 30-year-old robotics engineer from Chennai set off alarm bells in 11 states by allegedly sending hoax bomb threats. She used fake email IDs with the name of her love interest -- who did not love her back and recently married someone else -- to frame him as revenge for her unrequited affection, police have found.

For months, 30-year-old Rene Joshilda used VPNs and fake email IDs to stay under the radar as police across multiple states hit a wall while investigating the bomb hoaxes. But one mistake gave her away and led the police to her door.

Love, One-Sided And Ruthless

According to police, Rene Joshilda completed her engineering from Chennai and then pursued a course in robotics. She had been working in Chennai as a senior consultant at Deloitte. During a project in Bengaluru, she met Divij Prabhakar and fell for him. The attraction, however, was one-sided. Divij never reciprocated Rene's feelings and married someone else this February. This left Rene fuming, and she plotted the most ruthless revenge. She set up several fake email IDs -- different variations of Divij Prabhakar's name -- and started sending bomb threats to schools, hospitals and sports venues.

Set Off Alarm In 11 States

Rene Joshilda threatened to blow up as many as 21 spots in and around Ahmedabad alone. These included the Narendra Modi stadium in Motera, the Geneva Liberal School in Sarkhej and a civil hospital, Joint CP (Crime) Ahmedabad Sharad Singhal has told the media. Threats were sent to 11 states before public processions and VVIP visits. These threats set off security alerts, prompting cops to mobilise forces urgently, only to find they were chasing a hoax. The states that received these threats include Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Bihar, Telangana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana.

Claimed Role In AI 171 Crash

On June 12, Air India's Ahmedabad-London flight crashed shortly after take-off. The AI-171 crash claimed at least 274 lives, including passengers and civilians in the building the Boeing aircraft crashed into. The plane had hit the BJ Medical College building after take-off. Following the crash, the college administration received an email. "I think now you know power. Like we sent you mail yesterday, we crashed the Air India plane with our former CM (Vijay Rupani). We know the police would have thought that the plane crash was a hoax and ignored it. Well done to our pilot. Now you know we are not playing. Now you know." This mail, police said, has been traced to Rene Joshilda. She did not know then that police were closing in.

Mistake That Proved To Be Her Undoing

According to Ahmedabad police, Rene Joshilda covered her tracks well while sending out threats, thanks to her tech expertise. "The number she would use to create email IDs would be virtual. She sent threat emails through Tor browser (a network for anonymous communication) and the Dark Web. She took a lot of precautions. She was very smart and never revealed her digital trail. But she made a small mistake and our cyber crime wing and crime branch tracked her down," Sharad Singhal said. 

According to an Ahmedabad Mirror report, Rene Joshilda made a mistake six months back and that one misstep did her in. Investigators found that despite her immense caution, she logged into her real and fake email accounts from the same device on one occasion. This exposed her IP address and tied her to the hoax emails. "That one careless login gave her away," a police officer said.

Inputs by Mahendra Prasad