UP cops uncover illegal telephone exchange, mastermind still untraced

The exchange which was operating for the past couple of years used to route over 82,000 calls per day between India and the United States America (USA) at 15 paise per minute rate which otherwise costs Rs 20 per minute, resulting in loss of millions of rupees per day to the telecom company as well as government agencies. 

The police, however, are yet to arrest Amit Kumar Jain, who is the owner of these companies. “We have been conducting raids to unearth the entire nexus and to arrest gang-members,” said Ajay Sahdev, SP STF.

As per the report, Term Cell, Delhi (telecom enforcement and regulation monitoring cell) had suspected connecting of international calls over mobile and fixed lines through illegal exchange. During investigation, UP STF unearthed this exchange through servers installed in the USA and Noida. Police, with the help of the Term Cell, traced its location in Noida’s Sector 63. During their raid  on Wednesday late night, it was found that four servers were engaged for the purpose. Police also found routers and connecting cables through which calls were being diverted without disclosing numbers of the callers. “As calls were being connected between two countries — India and the USA — we have been investigating the case from a security angle. There might be possibility of exchanging information related to national security but it’s a part of the probe,” said RK Mishra, Deputy SP, STF.

The officials informed that servers belonged to a private company, Shri Brijesh Sulotions, which had rented it out to another company, Net Majic. 

The tenant company in nexus with some foreign partners had installed servers in the USA. 

As per law, companies use ‘bandwidth and space’ in the server after proper approval and procuring unified licence but this facility was being availed without licenses. The cops also found that at least 82,000 calls were being made through the system daily and for this special techniques were being used too. 

“In order to avoid hindrances and to not disclose identity of the caller, the companies had connected 32 PRI lines with servers in Noida which was functioning with the help of VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) located in the US. Suppose, a caller has to talk to someone in the US, then the server would provide a separate route. The staff, with the help of technology, changed the actual identity and call from a local number was displayed at the receiver’s screen,” Mishra added.