Bane of cops, boon for criminals: Why gangsters love this Armenian app

In crime investigations, police usually rely on mobile numbers of suspects to track and nab them. But imagine a messaging application that doesn't ask for your phone number or email ID and instead, assigns you a 10-digit virtual number to communicate with your contacts.No wonder, Zangi, an Armenian mobile app, has become a rage among gangsters. The app’s anonymous network, according to cops, makes it challenging for them to track down users and locate their hideouts. And not just gangsters, online scammers, drug dealers and terrorists are also reportedly using this app, which was banned by the Centre in 2023. So, what makes it so popular in the underworld and why is the ban not working? medium nocaption117487556How police stumbled upon Zangi In the past year, the shooters from different gangs arrested by Delhi Police had one thing in common. Whether it was the Lawrence Bishnoi group or his rival Bambiha syndicate and their alliances active in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) and elsewhere, gangsters and their henchmen were found using Zangi – to connect with each other, thwarting any possibility of surveillance over them, according to sources. A few months ago, Delhi Police arrested two shooters from the Himanshu Bhau gang and found that they were communicating on Zangi. “The application contained instructions from Bhau asking them to stay in pairs at different locations, collect weapons discreetly and destroy evidence after committing crimes. Denied the use of SIM cards, the shooters relied on Wi-Fi from passersby, deleting data regularly to maintain secrecy,” an investigator says. Similarly, another shooter of Bhau, Subhash, allegedly involved in over a dozen cases of murder and extortion, was found using Zangi to connect with the kingpin. The men involved in the shooting incident at Burger King in Delhi's Rajouri Garden or the henchmen of UK-based gangster Kapil Sangwan, allegedly involved in firing incidents at two business establishments in west Delhi's Tilak Nagar recently, were also found communicating on the app. As were some members of the Gogi gang who were held in November 2024.Three Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) men, who were killed in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh’s Puranpur in December, were using the banned Zangi app for communication and messaging. “The app ‘protects' user data as it doesn't store any of it on the server. Instead, it uses peer-to-peer technology to send messages and calls directly between the devices of the user and recipient. It is a worrying find, and their phones will be sent to a forensic lab to retrieve call history,” Superintendent of Police (Pilibhit), Avinash Pandey had said following the encounter. The Mumbai Police too have found the use of Zangi app in several cases they have investigated. In November 2024, during the investigation into the murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, the Mumbai Crime Branch arrested multiple individuals, including Akashdeep Gill, an alleged Bishnoi gang shooter. Gill confessed to having direct contact with gangster Anmol Bishnoi and revealed that the conspirators used the Zangi and Signal apps to coordinate their activities, thereby evading law enforcement surveillance. “Of the 11 accused arrested in the case, six of them were communicating using the Zangi app. Picture of Baba Siddique was shared using the app and other details were also discussed there,” says an official. medium nocaption117487591Drug dealers' favouriteOn December 31, 2023, police busted a rave party in a forested area in Thane Creek near Mumbai. Over 100 youths between the ages of 17 and 22 were rounded up from the spot. This was no upscale event – the young adults from middle-class homes were found consuming LSD dots; and those who organised the party had attended similar parties in the past. The investigating officers found the use of Zangi app for drug deals where the access was allowed after punching a 10-digit code. The buyer would make a video call and chat through the app with the seller/supplier, he says.Besides, the Mumbai Police uncovered an extensive online betting syndicate operating through various platforms in April 2024. The accused utilized secure communication apps, including Zangi, to manage their operations and evade detection. The investigation revealed the use of multiple fake SIM cards and bank accounts, complicating the tracking of their activities. “In this app, once you send a message, it gets deleted from the company's network as soon as it is delivered. So, the messages cannot be tracked, and only the recipient can access them,” a cyber cell cop says.Why the ban isn’t working In 2023, the Centre banned 14 mobile messaging apps, including Zangi, that were allegedly being used by terror groups to communicate with supporters and overground workers. Threema, Wickerme, Enigma and Safeswiss also featured in the list of apps that were blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, according to government sources. However, Zangi is still available on Play Store. TOI downloaded the application and found it functioning without glitches. Does this mean that the ban has failed to deter its usage? According to a senior cyber cell officer, although apps like Zangi have been banned by India under the IT Act, users can still access them by changing their virtual private network (VPN) – for instance, one can always connect from a VPN from a country where the ban is not applicable. “It [Zangi] is not a widely known app. People who know about it or use it have some shady motive and so it's easy for them to bypass the system,” says the official. He says that the ban may become ineffective because even if it takes the app off the Play Store, existing users or new users, who know about it, can access it by running a direct search on the internet. “Most app bans are not completely followed through. The ban on TikTok was a good example to go the extra mile to ensure that the app is discontinued. India ensured that Apple and Google remove the app from their stores and then ordered internet service providers to filter Indians’ web traffic to block access to servers. But it may not be the case every time,” the officer adds.