One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.
Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.
TL;DR: If you are named in a false criminal case and your alibi rests on where your phone was, you cannot get call detail records or tower location data by walking into a telecom office. The data is held by the operator, and it reaches you only through a court order, usually by way of an application for production of documents. The real emergency is timing, because operators purge this data on their own retention cycles, and once it is gone it does not come back. A preservation order, moved early, is what saves the case.
Key Facts of the Case
- A charge sheet was filed in a magistrate's court in Nagpur against Nikhil Deshpande, his parents, his brother and an elderly aunt.
- The complainant was the brother of Karan Malhotra, the estranged husband of Nikhil's sister Shruti Deshpande.
- Shruti had separated from Karan in November 2022 following an assault, and the family had custody of her two sons.
- The alleged incident was dated 18 February 2023, a date on which the family says it was at a naming ceremony in Wardha, roughly fifty kilometres away.
- No CCTV footage and no photographs from the alleged scene existed.
- A discharge application had already been filed and the matter was at the stage of hearing objections.
- The defence turned on call detail records and mobile tower location data placing the family outside Nagpur.
- The telecom operator declined to release the data to the family directly, citing privacy and internal policy.
The Direct Legal Answer
Can CDR and tower location be obtained directly from a telecom company?
No. Telecom operators in India do not hand over call detail records or mobile tower location data to private individuals on request, even if the person is the subscriber. The data is released to investigating agencies, or on the strength of a court order. So the request has to be made by, or through, the court.
How do I stop the data from being erased before I get the order?
You move quickly. An application for production of documents, coupled with a specific prayer for preservation, is filed before the magistrate hearing the case. Once the court directs the operator's nodal officer to preserve the records pending production, the operator is bound to hold them. The order does not have to wait for the trial to begin.
Can I show the charge sheet was malicious at this stage?
Yes, partly. Malicious prosecution is usually argued in the discharge application itself, or through a separate application pointing to the delay in filing, the omission of the complainant's own conduct, and the absence of any independent witness. Documenting an alibi that the investigating officer never checked is a strong point.
Can a false criminal case be quashed on the strength of CDR?
Sometimes. A High Court can quash proceedings where the material on record does not disclose the offence at all. But CDR is rarely enough on its own at the quashing stage, because the court is not conducting a mini-trial. It usually works better as a discharge argument.
Advice in Such Cases
Consult with Lawyer: The very basic and important step to start is talk to Lawyer / advocate. You should not hesitate in paying his consultation fee i.e. might be in range of Rs. 10,000 to 50,000 depends case to case. He is helping you in this situation to come out. He is expert in the domain and can help you explain the procedure which you might have never explored. A good lawyer can get the issues resolved much faster than you think.
Write down where every family member was, hour by hour, for the date in the charge sheet. A hazy alibi is worse than no alibi.
Do not contact the complainant, his relatives or the investigating officer. Anything said now can be turned into a fresh allegation of interference.
And here's the part most people miss: this category of matter involves procedural and evidentiary strategy that a general practitioner may not handle routinely. Applications for electronic records, the certificate requirement for electronic evidence, and the timing of a discharge plea are specialised steps. Advocates who regularly handle such matters tend to move faster and get better results.
Applicable Sections of Law
The offences alleged in a case of this kind are now drawn from the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. House-trespass is dealt with under Section 329 BNS. Extortion is under Section 308 BNS. Intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace falls under Section 352 BNS, and criminal intimidation under Section 351 BNS. Where several people are named for a common act, Section 3(5) BNS covers common intention.
On procedure, Section 94 BNSS allows a court to summon the production of a document or thing, which is the route to telecom records. Discharge at the stage before framing of charge is governed by Section 250 BNSS. Electronic records and the accompanying certificate are dealt with under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, and expert opinion under Section 39 BSA.
Punishment and Penalties
House-trespass under Section 329 BNS
carries imprisonment of either description up to one year, or a fine of up to five thousand rupees, or both. Extortion under Section 308 BNS is treated more seriously — simple imprisonment that may extend to three years, or a fine, or both — and the aggravated forms of extortion carry longer terms.
Intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace under Section 352 BNS, and criminal intimidation under Section 351 BNS, each carry imprisonment that may extend to two years, or a fine, or both. Where the intimidation involves a threat of death or grievous hurt, Section 351 BNS provides for a longer term.
Those numbers matter less than people assume. Almost nobody convicted of these offences on a first brush serves the outer limit. The question that actually decides your life for the next two years is whether the case survives the stage you are standing at right now. If the magistrate discharges the accused, there is no punishment left to discuss. If it goes to trial, the prosecution has to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, and an alibi that the investigating officer never bothered to check is precisely the kind of gap that creates doubt.
Section 3(5) BNS is the common intention provision. Where several people act together, each can be held liable as though they had done the act alone. It is why a single complaint can name an entire family, and it is also why a shared alibi that covers everyone is so effective when it holds up.
Whether any of these offences can be compounded, and by whom, depends on the Schedule to the BNSS and the specific sections invoked against you. Check that with a lawyer on your own set of charges, because it decides whether a negotiated end is even available.
What Happens First in a False Criminal Case — The Sequence That Matters
Once a charge sheet is on file, the order of operations is not flexible. Do these in this order.
- Enter appearance. File the vakalatnama. Nothing on your side moves until you are on record, and the court will not entertain an application from a person who has not appeared.
- Read the charge sheet line by line. Make a list of every date, every place and every witness the police have cited. Most contradictions in these cases are sitting on the face of the charge sheet itself.
- Build the alibi in writing, hour by hour. Not just for the accused standing at the front — for every person named. Then work out which hours can be proved by an independent document: a hall booking for a ceremony, a hotel bill, an entry in a temple register, a hospital out-patient slip, a photograph with an embedded timestamp, a UPI payment at a shop in the other town, a call made to a relative at the relevant time.
- Move the preservation application immediately. This is the step with a clock on it. Ask for a direction to the operator's nodal officer to preserve the call detail records and tower location data for the specified numbers and the specified window, and ask that the order be communicated to the operator in writing the same day. Ask for production in a sealed cover if you think the material is sensitive.
- Then run the discharge argument. By the time the records arrive, the discharge application or your objections to it should already be drafted, so the material lands inside the hearing rather than after it.
- Stay off the phone with the other side. No calls to the complainant, his relatives or the investigating officer. Not one. Anything said from here can be turned into a fresh allegation of interference or intimidation, and that allegation will be easier to prove than the original one.
Where This Kind of Case Usually Fails — and Where It Holds
Honestly, some of these complaints are not defensible on the documents. If the family's own call records put them in Nagpur at the time alleged, the alibi collapses and the better line of argument may be a factual one about who did what, rather than a clean denial. It is worth knowing that before you spend money on an application that will only confirm the prosecution's case.
When it does hold, it usually holds for a boring reason: the alibi is documented by a third party who has no stake in the outcome. A hall register. A bill. A location pin shared in a family group at the time. Screenshots saved later are much weaker, and courts know the difference.
Two practical points. First, retention periods for call detail records and tower data differ between operators and between circles, and they are not published anywhere reliable. Assume months, not years. Second, on the procedure for electronic records, Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 requires a certificate when an electronic record is produced, and Section 39 BSA deals with expert opinion. If the records come from the operator's nodal officer without that accompanying certificate, expect the prosecution to object to their admissibility, and be ready for that argument rather than surprised by it.
There is also a limit worth stating plainly. Courts are often reluctant to exercise the power under Section 94 BNSS at the instance of an accused, and practice varies from one magistrate to another. Some will direct production readily on a reasoned application. Others will say the accused can summon the records himself at the trial stage and refuse to intervene earlier. That is a real risk, and it is one reason to file the application with the specific dates, numbers and purpose spelled out, rather than as a general request.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get my own call detail records from my telecom operator?
Not by walking into a store or filing a grievance. Operators in India release call detail records and tower location data to investigating agencies, or on the strength of a court order. A subscriber's own request is usually refused on privacy and internal policy grounds, even when the number is registered in that person's name. The request has to come from the court.
How long do telecom operators keep tower location data?
There is no single published figure and it varies by operator, by circle and by the type of record. Some records are kept longer than others. Because nobody will confirm the period in writing for your specific number, treat the data as perishable and move within days of reading the charge sheet, not months.
What is a preservation order and how do I get one?
It is a direction from the court to the telecom operator's nodal officer to hold specified records pending production, so they are not deleted or overwritten in the ordinary course. You get it by filing an application before the magistrate hearing the case, identifying the numbers, the date range and why the records matter to your defence. Ask for the order to be served on the operator the same day.
Will the magistrate grant an application against a telecom operator?
Sometimes. Many magistrates will, particularly where the application is specific and the alibi is a central plank of the defence. Some will not, taking the view that the accused can obtain the same material through the ordinary trial process. There is no way to predict which way a given court will go, which is why the application should be drafted to head off the objection rather than invite it.
Do I need a certificate under the BSA for call detail records?
Yes, in substance. Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 requires a certificate to accompany electronic records produced in evidence. When the operator responds to the court's direction, check that the certificate is there and that it is signed by the person responsible. If it is missing, raise it at that stage rather than at trial.
What if the records have already been deleted?
Then that route is closed and the case has to be fought on the rest of the material — witnesses, documents, delay in lodging the complaint, and the omissions in the investigation. This is exactly why the timing of the preservation application matters more than the quality of the discharge draft.
Can I claim compensation for a false criminal case?
Possibly, but not at this stage and not in this proceeding. A civil suit for malicious prosecution generally requires the criminal case to end in your favour first, along with proof that there was no reasonable cause for it and that you suffered actual damage. Keep every record of what the case cost you — fees, travel, lost work, medical treatment.
Do I have to appear in court personally while this is pending?
It depends on the stage and on the orders passed. Once appearance is entered, a well-drafted application for exemption from personal appearance can be moved for hearings where nothing requires you physically, provided you are represented. Bring this up with your lawyer early rather than after a warrant is issued.
What to Send Us
If you are in this position, the fastest way to get a useful answer is to send three things: a copy of the charge sheet or the FIR, its date, and a two-line note setting out where each named person actually was on the date alleged. Add any document that proves that — the invitation, the bill, the register entry, the travel receipt. Photographs of the pages are fine if the copy is not clean.
You can write to us at /contact-us or use the form at /book. If the date of the alleged incident is more than a few months old, say so in the first line, because that decides whether a preservation application is worth filing at all.
Disclaimer: This article is general information about Indian law and is not legal advice on your own situation. Every case turns on its own facts, and you should consult a lawyer before acting on anything written here.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India
Facing a similar matter? Speak to a Delhi criminal defence lawyer — Advocate Sudhir Rao appears in bail, trial and appellate matters before the Delhi District Courts, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India.