Man Arrested For Routing International Calls Illegally: Police

The Noida police on Monday arrested a man for allegedly routing international voice calls made on Indian phone numbers using his illegal "telecom set-up" that bypassed the legal gateway for such connections and caused financial loss to the government, officials said.

The accused Sumit Kumar Bisdah, 27, was apprehended from his rented house in Delhi after an FIR was lodged in Noida on a complaint by officials of the Telecom department, Government of India, they said.

"Based on the information, the illegal set-up was tracked at two houses in Sector 2 and Sector 8 of Noida. Equipment and evidences were collected from the two spots and based on that Bisdah was arrested from Laxmi Nagar in Delhi," a police spokesperson said.

"He had illegally installed the telecom set-up and used his system to divert voice calls from international numbers to Indian phone numbers, bypassing the legal connection gateway," the spokesperson said.

"His acts have caused heavy loss to the Telecom department and the Indian government. His illegal act could have also jeopardised national security," the police official added.

An estimated amount of loss incurred by the government was not immediately known, neither the police has revealed for how long the illegal activity had been taking place.

"Bisdah's network was large scale. Prime facie, it appears a prominent media group based outside India also used his illegal network for routing calls on Indian phone numbers," an official privy to the probe told PTI.

Bisdah is a native of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh, the police said.

The police said they have seized two laptops, four routers, and devices related to voice over internet protocol (VOIP) from his offices and home.

An FIR has been lodged at Noida's Sector 20 police station under Indian Penal Code Section 420 (cheating). Bisdah has also been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the police said.