BHUBANESWAR: A prank on the Internet nearly landed a Plus-3 student here in jail with the entire might of India’s security establishment queueing up to lay their hands on him. The 20-year-old’s act went so far as to get the Australian intelligence involved as well.
Luckily, a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) found the youth innocent and his actions were just a prank. He was let go after a three-hour interrogation at Khandagiri police station here on Wednesday but only after a warning not to repeat his mistakes.
Sources said the student, while idling his time at home during the lockdown, visited an Australia-based website which deals with sophisticated firearms. The youth began email communications with the dealer and placed an order for bulk delivery of weapons. Though he later cancelled the order when he realised the prank was turning serious, an Australian intelligence agency had by then got on his tail and shared the details with the NIA. “The NIA recently shared the details of the IP address and asked us to keep tabs on his movement. We did not find anything suspicious. Still, the NIA sought our assistance to interrogate him,” a police officer said.
“The NIA ruled out any terror link or criminal activities. The NIA team refused to prosecute him as they found that the student had accidentally browsed some forbidden sites on the Internet and tried to inquire about weapons and explosives. The student has been allowed to go home,” commissioner of police Sudhanshu Sarangi told TOI.
Sources said the NIA officials checked the student’s laptop and were convinced of his innocence. It is learnt a team of IB officials, too, had recently visited Bhubaneswar and interrogated him. The officials did not find anything suspicious with the student, a source said.
An IT expert said those surfing the net should take this case as a lesson. “Despite countless awareness measures, cybercrimes are rising and people are not learning anything. Misuse of cyber space and browsing of contentious websites, mostly pornographic sites, may lead to serious consequences. Parents and family members should sensitize children about proper use of the internet,” IT expert Prashant Sahu said.