Suspected ISI agent held with hi-tech gadgets from Nepal border

Pramod Giri, HT, 7 Dec 2016, SILIGURI: The arrest of 33-year-old Ranvijay Singh from near the Indo-Nepal border in Darjeeling district has prompted law enforcing agencies to keep vigil on him.

Seizure of two GSM raptors, one swiping machine, four laptops, three voter cards, 150 Nepalese SIM cards and 37 Indian SIM cards from his possession has made sleuths suspect that he could be an ISI agent.

Singh, a resident of Siwan district of Bihar, was arrested by Kharibari police from Panitanki on Monday evening. On Tuesday, he was produced at a local court here which sent him to police remand. Acting on a tip off, Singh, who is said to have passed BTech from Rajasthan, was arrested on his way to Kharibari from Pradhan Nagar where he was staying before he shifted to Panitanki near the Indo-Nepal border. Amit P Javalgi, superintendent of police of Darjeeling, said details would be divulged after a through interrogation of Singh.

Singh, a suspected agent of ISI, was arrested by officers from the anti-corruption branch and local police from his rented accommodation.

Singh was running an electric mechanic business in Pradhan Nagar area in Siliguri before he shifted to Panitanki near the Indo-Nepal border. He had been to Qatar and Oman in 2009 and 2010 and later settled in Siliguri’s Pradhannagar area in 2015 from where he had shifted to Panitanki six months back.

The sleuths had been monitoring his activity that included converting international mobile network calls into Indian calls, the officer said. GSM raptors, which were seized from his possession, are used to convert international calls originating from different locations. Calls from Dubai to India could be shown as calls originating from Nepal with the use of raptors, said a police officer. He is also accused of swindling money from peoples bank accounts.