Electronic devices seized, 2 detained from UP for ‘pro-Khalistan message’
The Ahmedabad Cyber Crime police detained two persons for allegedly issuing threatening messages to the public on behalf of a pro-Khalistan group against attending the India-Australia Test cricket match hosted at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on March 8.
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PM Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese at Narendra Modi Stadium on the first day of the India-Australia cricket Test match on March 8. (Express Photo) The Ahmedabad Cyber Crime police seized several electronic devices, including three SIM boxes, from a rented house in Uttar Pradesh and detained two persons for allegedly issuing threatening messages to the public on behalf of a pro-Khalistan group against attending the India-Australia Test cricket match hosted at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on March 8.
Three SIM boxes and as many routers and mobile phones were found, Jitendra Yadav, Assistant Commissioner of Police-Ahmedabad cyber crime branch, told media persons Saturday. “We detained the residents of the house from where these items were seized. We are inquiring how they got these boxes, who gave them or if they are themselves involved in keeping these boxes and so on,” said Yadav.
“We were investigating in Mawana (in Meerut) with the help of the local police. But the suspects got to know about our presence and removed the SIM boxes from there. They shifted the boxes to Modinagar (Ghaziabad in UP). We have located the boxes from a house there,” he added.
In March, two youths—Rahul Kumar (31) and Narendra Kushwaha (30)—were arrested from the Satna area of Madhya Pradesh in connection with releasing bulk calls and audio and video messages ahead of the Test match at the stadium where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese were present on the first day of the match. The pre-recorded voice clips warned people to “stay at home” on the day of the match saying “pro-Khalistan Sikhs” were going to “storm Narendra Modi cricket stadium and install Khalistan flags”.
Some of the calls were also generated from the SIM boxes in Uttar Pradesh, ACP Yadav said. “There was one nexus in Madhya Pradesh from where the calls were generated, this is another one. Similar calls in the name of Gurupatwant Singh Pannun (the founder of the banned ‘Sikh For Justice’ group). The people were detained just on the basis of the SIM boxes that were found with them. No arrests have been made yet,” added Yadav.
Kumar and Kushwaha, currently in judicial custody, procured the SIM boxes from Delhi and Mumbai, the police said.
“The duo were outsourced to send these calls from a larger group that is majorly being traced to Bangladesh. They were unaware about the type of messages they were generating through the SIM boxes, which were merely gateways converting internet calls to global systems of mobile communication, sending those messages and calls. However, they were aware that they were using telephone exchange systems, which is illegal,” said Yadav.
The case has been registered under 16(1)(b) – terrorism – of the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Section 66 (F) of the Information Technology Act that deals with acts of cyber terrorism and Indian Penal Code sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups), 505 (statement conducting public mischief), and 120 B (criminal conspiracy).
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