OTP Sharing Scam: West Bengal STF To Take Accused Lodged In Bhubaneswar Jail On Remand

Bhubaneswar: The Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal is likely to take Pathanisamant Lenka, who has been arrested in OTP sharing case involving Pakistani intelligence agents, on five-day remand from tomorrow.

A case has already been registered against accused Lenka, who is now lodged in Jharpada Special Jail in Bhubaneswar, at Siliguri in West Bengal.

The accused will be interrogated by West Bengal STF officials about links with Guddu Kumar, arrested in December last year for passing on sensitive information, including photographs of certain strategic locations in north Bengal, to his handlers in Pakistan.

The West Bengal STF, which had earlier interrogated Lenka and another accused Pritam Kar at Jharpada jail here, wants to further question him in remand.

Lenka had gone into hiding after Guddu’s arrest and Bengal police had also raided his house at Itamati in Nayagarh district. He also had links with a Patna-based woman, who was arrested by Rajasthan police recently for her alleged ties with some Pakistani agents.

Sources said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is also likely to further interrogate Lenka at Jharpada jail after the remand period is over. The NIA is likely to interrogate Lenka and Abhijeet Sanjay Jambure face-to-face.

It may be noted that the accused allegedly procured huge numbers of pre-activated SIM cards in the name of others and used them to sell the OTPs to various clients including some Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIO)/ ISI agents in Pakistan as well as in India.