Bengal Police get details on how arrested spies helped Pak handlers get Indian numbers for WhatsApp

Kolkata, July 10 (IANS) The sleuths of the Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police have secured specific information on how Mukesh Rajak and Rakesh Kumar Gupta, the two suspected ISI linkmen arrested in the state earlier this week, used to help their handlers in Pakistan to get Indian mobile numbers for WhatsApp messaging purposes.

In the face of interrogation, the duo who are in police custody now have admitted that they used to procure prepaid mobile cards from the market using multiple Indian identity cards.

After those SIM cards and numbers were activated, the duo used to pass them to their Pakistani handlers. Subsequently, those numbers were used to open fake WhatsApp accounts. The duo also used to share the OTPs with their Pakistani handlers, required to activate WhatsApp for those numbers.

Sources said that to operate silently without much attention, the duo started operating under the garb of an NGO and that too from a rented accommodation in a place like Memari in East Burdwan district, which otherwise does not have many records of crime-related activities.

The state police insiders said the duo gave contradictory introductions about themselves to the owner of the apartment they rented and to their neighbours.

While to the owner, they introduced themselves as teachers of the English language; to the neighbours, they introduced themselves as heads of an NGO involved in different social welfare activities.

As told by the neighbours to the investigating officials, although in the locality Rajak and Gupta were known as true gentlemen, their interactions in the locality were limited.

The neighbours also told the cops that at times, some people used to come to meet them and stay at the rented accommodation for some time.

While Rajak was a resident of Panagarh in the West Burdwan district, Gupta was a resident of Bhawanipur in South Kolkata.

The cops doubt that Gupta and Rajak were part of a major espionage racket.

The investigating officials have already seized the mobile phones of the duo. The investigating officials are tracking the period when the arrested men had been operating as ISI linkmen, and also what kind of information they shared with their associates in Pakistan.

--IANS

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