The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered two separate cases to investigate suspected espionage networks in West Bengal allegedly linked to Pakistan Intelligence Operatives (PIOs), officials said.
The officials said that they are examining how Indian SIM cards were activated and subsequently used to create WhatsApp accounts operated from across the border.
The probes name four individuals from West Bengal, two of them residents of Paschim Medinipur and two from Murshidabad, who allegedly facilitated the misuse of Indian phone numbers to share sensitive information with Pakistan-based handlers.
To be sure, the federal anti-terror probe agency is investigating both cases separately, and there is no link between them.
However, an officer, who asked not to be named, said that the investigators are examining the possibility of a wider network supplying Indian SIM cards, facilitating their OTP-based activation, and possibly passing on sensitive information to the Pakistani handlers.
Both cases were previously investigated by the West Bengal Special Task Force and have recently been handed over by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) to the NIA to unearth a larger conspiracy.
What are the cases?
In the first case, two individuals, Sheikh Mursalin and Goutam Khanra, from Paschim Medinipur, were allegedly involved in the sale and activation of Indian SIM cards in different areas in West Bengal. The Pakistani handlers, most likely associated with ISI, activated WhatsApp accounts on these numbers through OTPs shared from India, for which the accused persons in India were paid a few thousand rupees for each SIM, said a second officer.
NIA suspects that around 400 SIM cards may have been activated using this method in the last few years.
In the second case, the agency has named Sheikh Juhab and Sheikh Suman, both residents of Murshidabad.
The second officer cited above said that Juhab also used a similar modus operandi, illegally activating SIM cards and sharing OTPs to access WhatsApp accounts, which were then used by handlers abroad.
“This possible cross-border misuse of Indian SIM cards by hostile elements is a serious problem,” said the first officer.
The government, in the last six months, has accelerated its crackdown on PIOs and their Indian contacts.
In August, an ISI-backed terror network led by wanted narco-terrorist Shahzad Bhatti was unearthed in a coordinated operation in 14 states. Over 200 terror suspects were arrested, and 253 were detained in the operation.