Jamshedpur, April 6: After a lull, district police have initiated a fresh probe into the multi-crore telephone call racket that came to fore in the steel city on July 30.

A new team comprising police officials and experts from private companies, with expertise in telecommunication, is in charge of the case now.

Police personnel in the team have started collecting fresh data about the criminal elements in and outside the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) involved in the racket. Besides, efforts are on to track similar rackets in the state.

On July 30, 2003, two youths — Mohammed Sagir and Sabir Ahmed — were arrested by Sidhgora police for allegedly misusing a Reliance mobile connection.

The charges against them included duping the Reliance Company of Rs 2 lakh by offering ISD facilities to customers at “low rates” on a prepaid mobile phone set. However, a further investigation into the case led the police to unearth a major racket in the BSNL.

But the case remained unresolved due to lack of technical resources available to the police.

In the racket, popularly known as “double zero,” STD booths operators exploit the spare circuits in the rural telephone exchanges.

The booth operators make ISD calls through the spare telephone circuit at the rate of local calls.

Police had arrested S.K. Srivastava, a key person in the BSNL’s Jamshedpur circle, in due course of their earlier investigations.

But despite having proof like computer password and code number of telephone exchange, they failed to prove the case against Srivastava, who managed to get the bail.

However, police did not arrest the other accused, including the four BSNL employees.

With the police “letting the matter rest”, the racket resumed in the rural areas.

Superintendent of police, East Singhbhum, Arun Oraon said he has ordered for the case to be reopened. This was necessary because the police has information that those releasedfrom the Sakchi Jail recently have resumed the same racket in some bordering districts of Bihar, he said.

“I have formed a special team for probing the case,” said Oraon. He pointed out that the special team would have the liberty to question anyone, from the BSNL or the police department itself, about the failure of the case.

When asked about the reasons behind the failure of the earlier enquiry, Oraon said “The case could not be solved because the probing police did not get the required technical support from the telecom department. However, the new team will also investigate whether any of the police officials of the previous team had deliberately deviated from the line of enquiry or not.”