The Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Crime Branch has successfully arrested another individual involved in the OTP-sharing scam, bringing the total number of apprehended suspects to six. Previously, five individuals, including a teacher, were taken into custody for their alleged involvement in sharing One-Time Passwords (OTPs) with operatives of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agents.
The recently apprehended accused has been identified as Abhijeet Sanjay Jambure, who was captured in Pune, Maharashtra, on Thursday. Following his arrest, he was presented before a local court in Pune and subsequently transported to Bhubaneswar after obtaining transit remand.
According to an official statement, Abhijeet had previously been issued a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) by the court in Bhubaneswar, necessitating his arrest. Hailing from the Satara district of Maharashtra, Abhijeet holds a Post Graduate degree in Statistics from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University in Anand, Gujarat. At present, he was employed at a software company in Pune.
Investigations have revealed that the accused maintained regular contact with two Pakistani intelligence officials or Pakistani Army Intelligence personnel for an extended period. In 2018, he came into contact with an individual named Danish, also known as Syed Danish Ali Naqvi, from Khanki, Faisalabad, Pakistan, through Facebook Messenger. Danish presented himself as a freelancer at “Chegg,” an American education technology company. Abhijeet shared his user ID and password for “Chegg” with Danish, who used the account on Abhijeet’s behalf, earning income that was credited to Abhijeet’s Indian account.
In return for this favor, Abhijeet became obligated to carry out certain tasks for Danish. Danish introduced him to his friend named Khurram, also known as Abdul Hamid, from Karachi, Pakistan. Khurram is believed to hold a high-ranking position in the Pakistan Army’s intelligence and possesses a wide network of agents in India. Following Khurram’s instructions, Abhijeet would transfer money to various Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) operating in India.
Additionally, Abhijeet had conversations with at least seven Pakistani citizens and ten Nigerian citizens via WhatsApp. The investigation into this matter is still ongoing, with further progress expected to shed more light on the extent of the scam.
Prasanta Patnaik