A day after top intelligence sources told Deccan Chronicle that the massive exodus from the IT city Bengaluru was part of a grand plan by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence to destabilize India, a massive probe by multiple intelligence and security agencies has revealed that the SMSes and images on social networking sites that triggered the exodus among people from the North-East had in fact originated from Pakistan. This was confirmed by Home Secretary R.K. Singh.

Mr Singh said as many as 76 websites were identified where morphed images were uploaded on social networking sites and the majority of these too were uploaded from Pakistan.

The Home Secretary further revealed that morphed images and photographs of people who had died in cyclones and earthquakes were circulated as victims in Myanmar on 76 websites. He said all the websites have been blocked and in addition 34 more objectionable sites have been identified and these too will be blocked.

“We believe it is highly reprehensible. I think it needs to be made known to everybody that this is something that is being done from Pakistan. The bulk of it has been done from Pakistan. We will raise this issue with Pakistan. I am certain they will refute it but our technical team of experts is certain about the origin,” he added.

Highly placed intelligence sources said that many agencies at the Centre and State-level were working to identify the exact source of these hate messages that created panic among North-East people in different parts of the country. Taking serious note of these SMSes the Union Home ministry too has directed the Intelligence Bureau to 'get to the bottom of this controversy'.

Even though the initial probe has confirmed that these messages originated from outside the country the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) has been roped in to identify the exact source of these messages.

“Technical experts have launched a massive investigation. Though it is early to say who could be behind this but it is certain that these messages were sent from outside the country, somewhere in Pakistan and we will locate the exact source of it. The role of subversive elements is also being probed. Nothing can be ruled out at this stage,’’ a senior Home ministry official remarked.

There has been an exodus of North-East students and others from different parts of the country particularly after sporadic incidents of clashes with them were reported from Pune and Hyderabad. Home ministry officials said the Centre is keeping a close watch on the developments and is in constant touch with the states.

All states have been asked to step up police patrolling in areas with high density of North- East resident. Even senior police officials have been directed to be on night patrolling. In the meantime, the CBI has announced a cash reward of up to Rs 1 lakh to anyone who could provide credible information which could lead to identification or arrest of perpetrators of the Assam violence.

Threat text came from ‘cybersleuth’

This is the man that the police went to, to be able to retrieve data and track down cyber criminals who commit phone and computer fraud.

To their shock and horror, Anees Pasha, 26, as well as two of his co-workers were discovered as the trio, who engineered the mass exodus of north-easterners from the city by sending off threatening bulk sms that incited hatred against the community.

The 26-year-old mastermind has been arrested along with Thaseen Nawaz (32), who like Pasha is a resident of BTM 1st stage, and Shahid Salman Khan (22) of Teachers Colony in Venkatapura. The Koramangala police have told this newspaper that the trio spread panic by uploading videos through electronic means to whip up hatred against N-E people staying in the city.

Anees had retrieved data from seized computer laptops and mobile phones for the police. The police sources told Deccan Chronicle that Pasha would have grown confident that the police would not catch him as they kept coming to him for help. He had used an old SIM card of a customer to send bulks threat SMSes.

The customer had left his mobile phone for repairs along with the SIM card. He used another customer’s laptop to upload videos on social networking websites. The mobile tower location as well as the internet protocol address pointed to Koramangala. The Central Division police passed on the information to the South East police who traced it to Anees’s shop.

They then sent threats on SMS to people from the north-east, who were told they would be attacked after Ramzan ended, unless they left the city.

Police said that as the suspects had only been apprehended on Saturday afternoon, it remained to be ascertained whether the men were acting on their own volition or were working at the behest of foreign forces, possibly the psy-ops of neighbouring Pakistan’s notoriously anti-Indian ISI.

City Police Commissioner B.G. Jyothiprakash Mirji said that on Saturday at 12.15 pm, the police received credible information about Anees, the owner of a mobile repair shop — New Fonotech at Koramangala VII block — as being the main man behind the spate of the hate messages flooding the phones of fellow members of their community.

A raid was conducted on his shop and Anees was taken into custody. “It is found that Anees along with the other two were sending SMSes to a vast number of people which was the wrong depiction of NE situation and were highly inciting in nature,” the commissioner added.

“One of the computers recovered from Pasha has a lot of extremist religious material. Though Pasha tried to deny that he was not behind bulk SMSes and videos, he had no answers when confronted with this evidence. He had managed to obtain the numbers of North-East people in the city through some of their associations,” an investigating officer said.

Four others have been arrested from a multiplex on Mysore Road while they were watching a movie, Mirji said. Wilson Garden police had arrested five people on Friday.

“All senior officers are on rounds till 2 am. Patrolling has been intensified. More Hoysalas and Cheetah patrolling vehicles have been deployed at sensitive zones. Security arrangements are so tight that in case of any untoward incident the police will reach the spot within five minutes. Regular peace meetings will be held across the city,” he said.

Cell towers pinpoint SMS source

Anees Pasha is one of the most sought after technicians by the policemen to retrieve data from the seized computer laptops and mobile phones.

“From one of the computers recovered from him, we found literature pertaining to religious sentiments. Even though Anees denied sending the SMSs or uploading the videos, he had no answer when the tower location which pointed to his shop was shown to him. Anees confessed he was frustrated over the attacks on Muslims in NE states. He had managed to obtain the numbers of the NE people in the city through some of their associations,” an investigating officer revealed.