Another individual was detained by the Odisha Special Task Force on suspicion of sharing OTP with Pakistani Intelligence Operatives.
In the OTP sharing case, Pradyumna Kumar Sahoo, 32, a resident of Mahitama village within the Nuagaon police limits in the Nayagarh district, was arrested on June 7.
The defendant is a college graduate who previously worked as a territory sales executive for Idea and as a Point manager for Jio. Currently, he was employed by Blackbuck Fastag.
The youth is accused of providing/selling over 500 pre-activated SIM cards and over 150 pre-activated Paytm wallets to Pathani Samanta Lenka, who was previously arrested in the OTP sharing case. The SIMs and wallets were sold to a variety of cybercriminals and Pakistani Intelligence Operatives, according to the STF.
The SIMs and wallets sold by Pradyumna were utilised by Pakistani Intelligence Operatives and ISI agents, some of whom were based within Pakistan, specifically in Karachi and Baluchistan.
During the investigation, the STF discovered that the accused generated multiple SIMs by deceiving consumers or SIM purchasers under the guise of technical malfunctions.
Notably, registered mobile phone numbers (which are linked to a bank account) are required for activation of various wallets such as Phone Pe, Google Pay, and others. However, this is not the case for Paytm wallet accounts. The customer can use the Paytm wallet by providing the OTP, User ID, and password to individuals with a distinct mobile number.
The STF is presently analysing the process and considering writing to Paytm to request that it modify its transparency settings.
The investigating agency detained three suspects, including an ITI instructor, on May 13 in connection with the case.
Pathani Samant Lenka (35), a resident of Badapandusar under Itamati PS in the Nayagarh district; Saroj Kumar Nayak, an ITI instructor from the Dasapalla area in the Nayagarh district; and Soumya Pattanaik from the Sujanpur area in the Jajpur district, were the accused. Following STF investigations, the three were arrested on charges of providing OTP to anti-national elements. They were charged under sections 419/420/465/467/468/471/120(B)/34 of the Indian Penal Code along with sections 66 C and 66 D of the Information Technology Act of 2000.
During the search, the STF seized numerous incriminating items from their possession, including mobile phones, pre-activated SIM cards, and a laptop. 19 mobile phones, including one Apple mobile, 47 SIM cards, 61 ATM cards, and 23 SIM covers were among the items seized.
