The Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Police has arrested a man from Jajpur for aiding the accused in the Mangalore auto-rickshaw blast case. Pritam Kar has been arrested for selling OTP, digital wallets, and mule accounts to cyber criminals, including Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIOs) and ISI agents.
The accused had provided the SIM and debit card used by Mohammed Shariq, the prime accused in the Mangalore blast case. The STF has approached the court for permission to take Pritam on remand for five days for further investigation.
Pritam and his associates have been engaged in this illegal business of sharing OTP, mule accounts, and pre-activated digital wallets with cyber criminals since 2017. He had been in direct touch with at least two PIO/ISI agents and had physically met them multiple times in other states.
The accused was the admin of various WhatsApp groups, including ‘All saving AC available,’ ‘OTP shop-6,’ ‘All OTP Available,’ ‘OTP Sell/ Buy Adda,’ ‘OTC KYC deals,’ ‘Indian Top OTP group,’ ‘Best OTP group,’ and many more. He charged up to Rs 1,000 per SIM and up to Rs 30,000 per account for mule accounts/digital wallets.
Four accused had been earlier arrested by the STF in this case. The STF is conducting further investigation into this sensitive case.
On November 19 last year, an explosion was reported in an auto-rickshaw in Mangalore, injuring the driver and the passenger, Mohammed Shariq. The accused was travelling in the auto-rickshaw with a pressure cooker fitted with a detonator, wires, and batteries when it exploded on the outskirts of Mangalore. The Karnataka Police chief later declared it a terror act and revealed that the accused had links with organised terror groups. The case is now being probed by the National Investigation Agency.
