A man was arrested by the Bengal Special Task Force on Sunday in Gudhia Dargatala, Murshidabad, for allegedly being part of a racket that illegally provides OTPs to individuals in Pakistan.
The man has been identified as Suman Sheikh.
Earlier, another man named Junab Sheikh, who runs a shop of SIM cards, was taken into custody in this case.
Junab’s statements led to Suman’s arrest.
Suman was previously employed at a factory in Pune. He became acquainted with a racket allegedly functioning in Pakistan through social media.
Suman was reportedly involved with Junab to activate Indian SIM cards intended for use by individuals in Pakistan to operate WhatsApp accounts.
“The Pakistani associates of the racket would install WhatsApp on their devices using Indian mobile numbers, which Junab would activate in India. Junab would relay the OTP generated on his device to his Pakistani associate to activate the WhatsApp account. This means a man in Pakistan would not need the SIM card while using an Indian mobile number. Junab would then destroy the SIM card to prevent detection. Nevertheless, the number associated with the WhatsApp account would continue to function,” stated an officer from the STF.
Such WhatsApp accounts, if used for any illegal activity, would appear to be an Indian number, the officer added.