Odisha court sentences 7 people to 3 yr imprisonment each for sharing info with Pak agents
Bhubaneswar (PTI): A court in the Odisha capital on Wednesday sentenced seven people to three years of imprisonment each for procuring SIM cards using fake identities and sharing sensitive information with suspected Pakistani agents through an OTP-based fraud.
The Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) Court, Bhubaneswar also imposed a fine of Rs 32,000 on each of the convicts.
According to a statement issued by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Police, the convicts were identified as Pritam Kar and Soumya Ranjan Pattanaik from Jajpur, Pathani Samanta Lenka, Saroj Kumar Nayak and Pradyumna Sahu from Nayagarh in Odisha, Abhijit Sanjay from Pune, and Iqbal Hussain from Guwahati.
The STF had earlier arrested the accused on charges of procuring SIM cards in fake names from Odisha and sharing one-time passwords (OTPs) with intelligence operatives in Pakistan.
"Two accused from outside the state played a key role in coordinating with a Pakistani agent. They were involved in activities that could adversely affect the internal security of the country," an STF officer said.
The officer said the Odisha Police had sought assistance from INTERPOL in connection with the case, but no information was shared by the Pakistani authorities.
During raids, police seized several incriminating materials from the accused, including 19 high-end mobile phones, 47 pre-activated SIM cards, 61 ATM cards, 23 SIM card covers and a laptop, the statement added.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
