Suspecting his wife of having an affair with an Army officer, a man allegedly hired private detectives and hacked her phone to access her call logs, messages, WhatsApp and Signal chats, payment details and camera.The Haryana Police have now registered a case against him for alleged data theft and breach of privacy under the Information Technology Act, 2008 and the BNS.Kamal Raj, a Himachal Pradesh native, and Jaspreet Kaur, a Chandigarh native, got married in 2012 after about five to six years of courtship.Both were in the business of providing financial investment advice and plans. They started operating M/s Omkar Financial Services from within Chandimandir Military Station, Panchkula, with several officers and personnel as clients. They had a son in 2017.However, following marital troubles, they began living separately in September 2022, though they continued to run their firm together as equal partners.Suspecting his wife of an affair with an Army officer, Kamal Raj allegedly hired detectives and hacked Jaspreet Kaur’s phone. Her call logs, messages, WhatsApp calls and chats, Signal app calls and chats, information about credit card and UPI payments, and camera were allegedly compromised. He also allegedly had access to the office CCTV cameras.According to Kamal Raj, he confronted Jaspreet Kaur over her alleged affair but in vain. In August 2024, he filed a complaint with Western Command alleging that a Major-ranked Army doctor was having an illicit relationship with his wife.The Army subsequently set up a Court of Inquiry. He also filed a petition for divorce in a Panchkula court the same year, citing his wife’s adultery as the ground.During the Court of Inquiry, Kamal Raj admitted that he had obtained his wife’s call details through private detectives. Regarding Kaur’s interaction with the Major on the Signal app, he said he had screenshots and call details and had submitted them.He also reproduced transcripts of WhatsApp and Signal call recordings. A photo of the Major during one of the meetings with the woman at Hotel Bella Vista in Panchkula was also submitted.Regarding the source of the CCTV footage and call recordings, he admitted during the Army proceedings that he had used the QuickSpy website and claimed that he had obtained it from a private detective.He also admitted to having bugged his wife’s car and house, the Army inquiry revealed.The Major, on the other hand, said he had only professional interaction with the woman, while the husband claimed several calls were exchanged between them.The Court of Inquiry, presided over by Lt Col Narender Pal Singh, gave a clean chit to the Major in December 2024, holding that the call recordings and video clips submitted by the husband were from a third-party source and that he had failed to produce the original digital content. It also noted that the meeting locations were not specific. The couple took mutual divorce in July 2025.In September 2025, Jaspreet Kaur filed a defamation case against Kamal Raj in a Panchkula court. On the court’s order, the Army produced the Court of Inquiry report.Based on the Army’s inquiry, she lodged a complaint with the Haryana Police on May 9, alleging that her phone and laptop had been hacked, as her ex-husband had admitted to it. She also alleged that the spyware QuickSpy was illegally downloaded onto her digital devices by two of her office employees to breach her privacy and steal her data, including her clients’ data.She further alleged that the Army authorities had concluded that she had no illicit affair with an Army officer. However, she said the complaint, which was filed to extract a mutual divorce by making her forgo her rights to alimony, had caused extreme damage to “her reputation and goodwill”.Defending himself, Kamal Raj said, “She is a habitual complainant. The police are yet to contact me. In fact, I have gone through mental trauma. It is a case of cruelty against husband.”After more than four months, on September 12, the Haryana Police registered a case on Jaspreet Kaur’s complaint against Kamal Raj and his two other employees for alleged data theft from her mobile phone and laptop and breach of privacy under various sections of the Information Technology Act and BNS.“A phone can be hacked by downloading spyware on it. The whole device gets compromised. However, remote hacking is not possible unless the user clicks on some link. This case is under investigation,” said Commissioner of Police, Panchkula, Pankaj Nain.A cyber expert with the Haryana Police, on the condition of anonymity, said, “It is a rare case. After software is physically downloaded to the phone, it can be tracked. Android phones are more susceptible to hacking.“WhatsApp calls, Signal app calls, and normal calls can be recorded and accessed through Google Drive. Such software, though, is not available on the Google Play Store. However, screen mirroring apps are available which are used by parents to monitor their kids.”Advocate Abhisek Singh Rana, who deals with matrimonial disputes, said such cases were rare. “However, I have seen cases where detectives are hired. But they don’t come to courts and give evidence. I have encountered cases where copying of phones has taken place, or linking WhatsApp on another device,” he added.