West Bengal STF to Secure Remand of Accused in Bhubaneswar Jail in OTP Sharing Scam

Bhubaneswar: The Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal is set to take Pathanisamant Lenka into custody for a five-day remand starting tomorrow. Lenka was arrested in connection with an OTP sharing case involving Pakistani intelligence agents. A case has been registered against Lenka in Siliguri, West Bengal, where he will be interrogated regarding his ties to Guddu Kumar. Kumar was arrested in December of last year for sharing sensitive information with Pakistani handlers.

The West Bengal STF aims to question Lenka further in remand, following previous interrogations of Lenka and another suspect, Pritam Kar, at Jharpada jail. Lenka had been in hiding after Kumar’s arrest, and police had raided his residence in Itamati, Nayagarh district. Lenka also had connections with a woman from Patna who was recently apprehended by Rajasthan police due to her alleged links with Pakistani agents.

Additionally, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) plans to conduct further interrogations of Lenka at Jharpada jail, once the remand period concludes. The NIA intends to facilitate a face-to-face interrogation between Lenka and Abhijeet Sanjay Jambure.

Notably, the accused had reportedly obtained a large number of pre-activated SIM cards in other people’s names and utilized them to sell OTPs to various clients, including Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIO)/ISI agents in both Pakistan and India.