CHANDIGARH: A man involved in a nationwide network of bomb threat emails targeting schools and sensitive establishments has been arrested by Punjab Police, with investigators claiming he was part of a cross-border digital ecosystem used to procure and circulate anonymous email credentials.
An illegal Bangladeshi migrant, who had entered India several years ago and was living in West Bengal working as a graphic designer, has been arrested by Punjab Police for his alleged links to a series of hoax bomb threat emails sent to schools and other sensitive establishments in recent months.
Sources said the accused has been identified as Sourav Biswas alias Michael (30), a graphic designer based in West Bengal who originally hailed from Bangladesh and had entered India illegally several years ago.
Biswas was part of a digital ecosystem involved in procuring and selling email accounts that were later used to circulate bomb threats anonymously. He operated through Facebook groups and encrypted online platforms to buy and sell email credentials.
Sources further added that three CPUs, five computer hard disks, three mobile phones and an internet router were seized from him.
Investigators also recovered details of more than 300 Gmail IDs along with passwords and recovery information, as well as 15 Hotmail accounts. The investigation is now focused on identifying a wider cross-border network.
Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that in four cases registered earlier this year under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) related to criminal conspiracy, cyber offences and criminal intimidation, the alleged accused Sourav Biswas has been named in them.
Sharing the modus operandi of the accused, Bhullar said that approximately 300 Gmail accounts had been procured from unidentified persons and subsequently resold by him.
Of these, 219 Gmail accounts were sold to a Bangladesh-based individual through WhatsApp, with payments routed through USDT cryptocurrency transactions.
"While many of these Gmail accounts were later shared with unidentified individual in Pakistan involved in sending bomb threat emails and carrying out other unlawful cyber activities,’’ he said.
A police officer on condition of anonymity said the arrest could help unravel a larger interstate and cross-border cyber network involved in spreading fear through anonymous digital platforms, adding that this is the first arrest in the racket that had triggered panic in several states.
"The motive behind the threatening emails was to create panic, disrupt public peace and pose a threat to national security,’’ he said.
Police said the investigation by the cybercrime police station in Amritsar involved extensive digital tracking and technical analysis, which eventually led investigators to Biswas.
Assistance has also been sought from Interpol to trace alleged accomplices linked to Biswas and operating from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Biswas has also been named by Gujarat Police in a similar case involving threatening emails.
Meanwhile, several schools in Amritsar received threatening emails on Thursday, triggering panic. Police teams, along with anti-sabotage squads and local police, were deployed to the schools and carried out thorough inspections.
