ATS Officers In Bhubaneswar To Grill OTP Scam Accused Over Pakistani Links

Bhubaneswar: A team of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) are in Odisha capital to interrogate Abhijeet Sanjay Jambure, an accused in the OTP selling and sharing scam, over his alleged links with high-ranking Pakistani intelligence operatives.

He will be questioned at the office of the Special Task Force here, sources said on Sunday, adding that the ATS has taken him on four-day remand and it is the second day.

“Jambure was in link with Pakistan agent since 2020 and he was sending money to another arrested accused Pathanisamant Lenka. ATS likely to take accused on transit remand. We will also seek the help of NIA if needed,” said Odisha STF SP Odisha STF SP.

Jambure (32) was arrested from Pune on June 29 and was brought to Bhubaneswar on a transit remand. A court in the state capital had earlier issued a non-bailable warrant against him.  A graduate in Statistics from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University, Gujarat, he was working in a multinational firm in Pune engaged in providing technology and IT consulting services.

Jambure had been constantly in contact with Pakistani intelligence and Army officers for the last several years. In 2018, he came in contact with Pakistani national Syed Danish Ali Naqvi, a native of Faisalabad, through Facebook. Jambure provided his user ID and password of Chegg to Danish, who had introduced himself as a freelancer working with this American education technology company.

Danish engaged some people to work on Jambure’s behalf for the company and payment towards the work was credited to the latter’s bank account in India. In return, Jambure made payments for agents working for Pakistan when they bought OTPs and mule bank accounts from cyber fraudsters, hailing from Odisha and other parts of the country.

Danish later introduced Jambure to Abdul Hamid alias Khurram of Karachi, who is reportedly a senior Pakistani army intelligence officer. On Khurram’s instructions, Jambure transferred money to Pakistani intelligence operatives working in India, the STF said.

The investigation revealed that Jambure had spoken with at least seven Pakistani and 10 Nigerian citizens on WhatsApp, it added.