THE Uttar Pradesh AntiTerrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a 24-year-old man from Kanpur for allegedly creating and selling fake email IDs to persons based in Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries, some of which were allegedly used to send bomb threats to schools and key establishments in Noida, Delhi, Gurugram and Mumbai, officials said on Thursday. The accused, identified as Ankit Shankhwar, a resident of Anoaiya village in Ghatampur area of Kanpur, was arrested on Wednesday, the ATS said. A mobile phone and a laptop were recovered from the accused, which allegedly contained several Excel files listing around five lakh email IDs created using proxy servers to conceal users' identities. Several cryptocurrency wallets were also found on the devices, the statement said. The ATS said the investigation began after several schools in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Delhi and Gurugram reported receiving threatening emails from a particular ID: “[email protected]”.

 

The emails also threatened bomb blasts at a concert featuring singer Diljit Dosanjh, and the residence of a prominent Bollywood actor. The threat messages purportedly invoked names of Khalistan National Army and Babbar Khalsa. Technical analysis of the said email ID indicated that it had been accessed from Kanpur, leading investigators to Shankhwar, who allegedly used Wi-Fi and proxy networks to create fake email accounts under fictitious identities. Shankhwar revealed that he had been creating such email IDs since 2021 and had generated lakhs from the trade. He allegedly sold the accounts to individuals and groups in foreign countries in exchange for cryptocurrency. The laptop also contained the email ID “[email protected] ”, which was allegedly used to send a bomb threat to the Mumbai Mayor's office on October 23. During questioning, Shankhwar disclosed that he connected with buyers through Facebook groups, and had also established contacts with individuals and groups based in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Egypt and other countries.