Mumbai man booked for calls made to IAS officer: ‘Not responsible, will move court against FIR’

Michael (35), the executive director of Jhatkaa, is accused of orchestrating a “denial of service attack” on Bhide’s cellphone and landline. (Representational Image)

By Srinath Rao 

DAYS AFTER the director of a Bengaluru-based civil society trust was arrested for allegedly leaking IAS officer Ashwini Bhide’s cellphone number, resulting in her receiving thousands of calls, accused Avijit Michael on Saturday said he will move court, seeking quashing of the FIR registered against him.

He denied that he had sent bulk messages to more than 2.5 lakh people, asking them to call Bhide’s cellphone and landline numbers to protest the construction of a metro car shed in Aarey Colony.

Michael (35), the executive director of Jhatkaa, is accused of orchestrating a “denial of service attack” on Bhide’s cellphone and landline. Following a police complaint lodged by Bhide on January 18, he was arrested on May 9 and released the same day on a personal bond of Rs 5,000.

According to the FIR, from January 12, Bhide, managing director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRC), had started getting missed calls on her cellphone from people who wanted to register their protest. Most of the calls that she didn’t attend were routed to her landline phone number. Denying that he had leaked Bhide’s cellphone number, Michael said: “The number is listed publicly on MMRC’s website. It is not like we leaked it.”

He described the police’s decision to book him as strange. “It is not as though we were automating spoof calls to a phone number. Individual residents were calling and registering their protest. We did not force anyone to make calls… people did that on their own,” he claimed.

Michael has been booked for obstructing a public servant from discharging her public duties under the IPC and for causing denial of service under the Information Technology Act. He expressed confidence that the charges against him would be dropped once he moves court. “The National Green Tribunal has passed a stay on Metro construction activities in Aarey and the MMRC is violating it. Is the public official really doing her job in public interest or just violating the court’s orders?” he asked.

During probe, police have found from the service providers of some of the numbers from which the calls had originated that they were from a Bengaluru-based telecommunications firm, Exotel. The calls to Bhide had stopped on January 19 after the police contacted Exotel. Inquiries with Exotel revealed that the firm had received a request from the website, Jhatkaa.org, for the purchase of 10 to 12 cellphone numbers to send bulk text messages.