Gandhinagar: Gujarat Police arrested two men in Bihar and Jharkhand in connection with an inter-state network allegedly involved in sending bomb threat e-mails, including a message threatening to blow up the Gujarat Secretariat and other high-profile institutions, officials said on Monday. It threatened to blow up the office of the Gujarat Chief Minister, the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister and BRICS countries.
The Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCoE) said its investigation into the threat e-mail sent on September 10 led to the arrest of Roshan Kumar Rajendra Kumar Bhumihar from Bhagalpur in Bihar and alleged main accused Gulshan Kumar Kaushal Singh from Deoghar in Jharkhand.
The investigation also uncovered a list containing 5,13,847 unique e-mail IDs and passwords, which police suspect was intended for use in sending further threatening e-mails and carrying out cyber crimes and other illegal activities.
The threat e-mail was received at 9:47 a.m. on September 10 on the official e-mail ID of Gujarat’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Department.
It threatened to blow up the office of the Gujarat Chief Minister, the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and countries that supported India during the recent BRICS Summit.
The message was sent from the e-mail address: ‘jondmoragn52627@gmail.com’. According to the CCoE, a technical team analysed the threatening e-mail and traced its digital trail to Bhagalpur.
Acting on the findings, police arrested Roshan Kumar Rajendra Kumar Bhumihar there. During his interrogation, he allegedly told investigators that the e-mail ID had been provided to him by Gulshan Kumar Kaushal Singh.
“The information led to a coordinated operation involving technical surveillance and field teams, following which Singh was arrested from Deoghar,” police said.
Investigators subsequently recovered a list containing 5,13,847 unique e-mail IDs along with their passwords from the accused.
Police said the accounts had allegedly been created for sending threatening e-mails to government offices, schools and colleges and courts, besides being used for cyber crimes and other illegal activities.
The investigation has also revealed an alleged Bangladesh connection to the network.
Police said the accused were receiving financial support from co-accused persons based in Bangladesh and that the e-mail ID list had also been sent to co-accused persons there.
“Investigators have further found that crypto wallets were being used in connection with the financial transactions,” the CCoE said.
The police said the accused used sophisticated methods to create e-mail accounts and bypass authentication processes.
The investigation into the e-mail IDs, including their intended use and possible links to other threatening messages or cybercrimes, is continuing.
“The operation was carried out simultaneously across three states, with the CCoE receiving assistance from Gandhinagar Police in Gujarat, Bhagalpur Police in Bihar and Deoghar Police in Jharkhand,” officials added.
Police have advised people who receive threatening e-mails not to panic and to immediately inform their local police or call the ‘1930’ cybercrime helpline.
They have also advised recipients not to delete, forward or circulate threatening e-mails, screenshots or unverified information on social media, and not to communicate with the sender.
The investigation into the network and the large database of e-mail credentials remains underway.
(IANS)
