The city police arrested three people for allegedly sending out thousands of inflammatory text messages that led to the exodus of many people from north-eastern states, and are on the look out for six people, one of whom could prove to be valuable for the investigation.
On Saturday, the Koramangala police, acting on a tip-off, arrested three people — Anees Pasha (26), Thaseen Nawaz (32) and Shahid Salman Khan (22) — for sending the inflammatory messages.
On Saturday afternoon, the police received information on Anees, who owns a cell phone shop, New Fonotech, in Koramangala 7th Block. He revealed that he was working with Thaseen and Shahid to send out the bulk SMS and MMS videos that mislead viewers about the situation in Assam.
“We are on the lookout for six more people, who are currently absconding. We are particularly looking for one accused, as he has certain information that could help us further the investigation,” a police official revealed. In the next two or three days, the police is expected to make more progress in the case.
The Union home ministry has apparently traced the origin of the bulk of the messages and online inflammatory material to Pakistan, and the city police are also investigating that angle. But their preliminary investigation states otherwise. “The three arrested have claimed that they were working on their own. They knew of the Assam issue and hence decided to circulate the message,” a police source said.
Anees has expertise in mobile and computer hardware, police said, “He was really good at his work.” The three are in judicial custody and a case has been registered under Sections 153 (A) and 295 (A) for promoting enmity between groups, and deliberate and malicious acts and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act.
City police commissioner B.G. Jyothiprakash Mirji, declining to give any more information on the case, said that in the next two to three days, there will be more progress.