Odisha Court Sentences 7 Persons To 3-Yr-Imprisonment For Fraudulently Registering SIMs, Illegally Sharing OTPs With Pakistani Agents

A Court in Odisha's Khurda district convicted seven persons accused of fraudulently pre-registering mobile SIMs and illegally sharing one-time passwords (OTPs) with foreign nationals, including agents belonging to Pakistan, for earning commissions. Finding the acts of the accused as threat to national security, Mr. Amit Kumar, the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Bhubaneswar remarked–“Further on perusal of the evidence adduced from the side of the prosecution along with all the exhibits marks on behalf of the prosecution and by considering the confessional statements of the accused persons, it is well proved that the accused persons are conjointly in furtherance of their common intention have obtained the pre-activated sim cards through false documentation and used those sim cards for sharing OTPs to the foreign entities for the operation of whatsapp and other social media platforms with a knowledge that could harm the stability and security of our Nation for their financial gain.”On 12.5.2023, one Pathani Samanta Lenka was arrested from near the Bhubaneswar Railway Station, basing upon the leads and information provided by a secret informer. Upon interrogation, he disclosed that he along with his associates engaged themselves in illegal business by sharing OTPs and mobile numbers to the members of a group which included foreign nationals including nationals from Pakistan as members. They earned money for activation/registration to different social platforms.Lenka was found to be a member of a Facebook group named as 'Free Recharge Box' which has about one lakh members including foreign nationals. The SIM cards were purchased from another person. On the basis of information given Lenka, a raid was conducted in the house of the other accused persons and several incriminating articles were seized.It was further revealed that one of the associates shared a large number of SIMs and more than 150 Paytm wallets to Lenka by using the identity cards of different persons of an area. He also shared OTPs to different anti-socials and anti-India persons.Therefore, an FIR was registered under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using a forged document/electronic record as genuine), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC read with Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and all the accused persons namely, Pathani Samanta Lenka, Saroj Kumar Nayak @ Amit, Soumya Ranjan Pattanaik, Pradyumna Kumar Sahoo @ Pinku, Pritam Kar @ Bapun, Abhijeet Sanjay Jambure and Mohammed Ikbal Hussain were arrested. Upon completion of investigation, a charge-sheet was filed against all the accused on 17.01.2024.Notably, during pendency of the trial, the Orissa High Court had denied bail to accused Mohammad Iqbal Hussain in January 2025 for his alleged link with a Pakistani Intelligence Officer affiliated to Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and for allegedly receiving money in his account on the behest of such Pakistani national.During the course of argument, the counsel on behalf of the accused persons argued that the entire investigation was rooted in the information given by an unnamed spy whose identity was never disclosed nor was he examined as a prosecution witness. It was contended that such non-disclosure of source of information violates right to fair trial of accused. However, the Court did not find merit in such argument, which was discarded by observing–“Section 125 of Evidence Act protects the identity of a Spy or confidential informer or the source from whom the I.O received information regarding commission of a cognizable offence as it comes under a privileged communication to ensure public safety and encourage the reporting of crimes. Further the informant is not bound to disclose the identity of a Spy from whom he received the information regarding the commission of a crime.”So far as charge of criminal conspiracy against the accused persons under Section 120-B of IPC was concerned, the Court held as follows –“In the present case in hand the membership of the each accused person in one facebook group i.e. free recharge box along with the seizure of multiple pre-activated sim cards and other incriminating materials from the possession of the accused persons, the confessional statement of the accused persons and the transactions of money in between the accused persons clearly proves their pre-meeting of minds before the commission of the said alleged offence which constitute a criminal conspiracy for doing the said illegal act.”Examining the evidence adduced by the prosecution, the Court was of the opinion that the accused persons deceived subscribers of different social media platforms by sharing OTPs and mobile numbers, which were obtained fraudulently and dishonestly by using false and fabricated documents....

Odisha Court Sentences 7 Persons To 3-Yr-Imprisonment For Fraudulently Registering SIMs, Illegally Sharing OTPs With Pakistani Agents

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