Bicom Telecom

BANGALORE/CHANDIGARH: An illegal telephone exchange was unearthed in Nelamangala on the outskirts of Bangalore on Wednesday and a sales manager of a cellular service provider and an ex-serviceman were arrested in this connection. The racket came to light following disclosures made by Mohinder Pal Saini, who was arrested in Chandigarh last week for operating long distance international call receiving exchange.

In Nelamangala, the exchange had been set up in Visveswarapura, where a cellular tower was already installed. The arrested are: Kashyap of the cellular firm, and Venkatesh, an ex-serviceman. Police have seized 24 cellphones and sophisticated equipment, including Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service equipment and a dish antenna, all worth Rs 40 lakh.

The clandestine racket, being run for the last four months, is said to have caused losses worth crores to the telecom department.

The exchange was unearthed by a joint team of BSNL and the police. It was run using V-Sat for receiving international calls and diverting them to various destinations, bypassing official gateways.

After Saini revealed to Chandigarh police about the Nelamangala exchange, the VSNL vigilance officer in Bangalore was tipped off. BSNL officers and the police raided the premises and seized the equipment. Saini, a Canadian national, told the police he had set up exchanges with the help of two Hong Kong-based persons - Shafeeq and Ajaib Singh Dhillon - who arranged for technical help in India .

The names of two other persons have cropped up during investigations. They are: Mahesh Giridhar, a resident of Chennai who supplied equipment, and Anand Mishra, a resident of Nepal who provided technical assistance.