Techie fraud bytes Hyderabad police

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Hyderabad: A computer scientist from the city was arrested on Friday for providing false information about possible terror attacks. The false information provided by Vivek Nair two days ago about a possible terror strike apparently prompted the police to impose a near-shutdown in the city on Wednesday and Thursday.
Nair was booked under Section 66 of the IT Act and sent to judicial remand.
While there is a general alert in the city ahead of Shivaratri on March 10, police had imposed specific restrictions on Wednesday and Thursday to disperse crowds and asked commercial establishments to down their shutters. Sources indicate that it might have been the result of the false inputs provided by Nair.
Hyderabad police commissioner Anurag Sharma said Nair had approached the Secunderabad Task Force police with information about possible terror strikes on March 2. He told them that he had developed a software program that could intercept electronic communication indicating terror strikes by tracking emails.
Computer con quizzed for fabricating evidence
On March 6, a team of experts from the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) arrived in the city to examine the evidence that computer scientist Vivek Nair had given the police, and concluded that it could be fabricated.
They confronted him on this and Nair admitted that he fabricated the communications, police commissioner Anurag Sharma said.
Nair resorted to this gimmick because he wanted to sell software that he had developed and thought this would be a way to build credibility. “He concocted a story to establish his credibility,” Sharma said.
The city police chief did not say if there was any link between Nair’s hoax and the high alert issued by the police on March 6 and 7. He did say that the police was getting plenty of hoax terror calls every day and that they can’t take chances. “We are pursuing every lead that we get. Public safety and security is of utmost importance to us. We can’t take chances,” Sharma said.
Nair gave the police a brief write-up about the capability of his programme. He claimed he had in the past worked with “various police agencies” and helped them solve cases of cyber crime.
“He came forward with messages and strong evidence of terror strikes,” Sharma said.