Bhubaneswar, Apr 15 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.
