Mahiyar Rohinton Patel, Pune
Two more individuals have been arrested by the Pune unit of the Anti Terrorism Squad in the city from an apartment in Kondhwa. The accused is named Abdul Kasim Siddiqui and hails from Bhiwandi, while his companion Pravin Gopal Shrivastav hails from Uttar Pradesh. As of now, five individuals have been arrested in regards to this case. The ATS arrested Naushad Ahmed Siddiqui of UP, Mohammad Ujjair Shaukat Ali Ansari of Bhiwandi and Piyush Subhashrao Gajbhiye from Wardha last week.
On 24th August, the ATS, as well as a team of the Central Department of Telecommunication, searched a flat located at MS Complex, which is in Mitha Nagar, Kondhwa. The raid uncovered a huge inventory of items used by the accused, such as 3,788 SIM cards of different companies, 9 routers, a laptop and an inverter.
Assistant public prosecutor Bodhini Shashikala submitted before the court that the accused used to facilitate international calls and divert them to avoid government surveillance. Calls coming into the telephone exchange in Kondhwa were routed to different numbers. The accused would generate OTPs from the seized SIM cards, which was instrumental in assisting terror activities. The accused would also charge a particular amount for every OTP generated.
A case has been filed under the new criminal code of the country; Section 318 (4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act and also the Telecommunications Act
During police interrogations of the suspects, it was revealed that the suspects used to convert the money generated from the operation of the telephone exchange into bitcoin, so that the money could remain untraced and easily accessed in any part of the world.
It has also been found that the accused gave various WhatsApp accounts out on rent to unidentified people for a clandestine operation. It is yet to be found to whom the accused rented the WhatsApp accounts and for what.
A similar case was also uncovered in Chennai last year, where suspects used SIM Cards and wireless internet routers to bypass the licensed long distance operators of calling services, causing a loss to the operator and the government.