Man held for bomb threat emails to Jaunpur court

Lucknow: The UP Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Sunday arrested a man from Azamgarh for allegedly sending multiple bomb threat emails targeting the Jaunpur court and Police Lines gate while masking his identity using VPN services and fake digital credentials.According to officials, Vishal Ranjan, a resident of Bakshpur under Nizamabad police station, was arrested from a rented accommodation in the Sidhaari area on Sunday after sustained technical surveillance and field investigation.
On Feb 17, the official email ID of the district judge in Jaunpur received five threatening emails from different IDs. Investigators found that the accused used paid VPN services, proxy IP masking and encrypted platforms like Proton Mail to conceal his identity.The emails threatened to blow up the Jaunpur court campus and the Police Lines gate if Rs 1 lakh was not transferred through mobile numbers mentioned in the mails, purportedly in the name of the UP chief minister.Following the threats, an FIR was registered at Line Bazar police station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, IT Act and Criminal Law Amendment Act.ATS teams conducted a detailed analysis of email IDs, mobile numbers, social media activity, VPN usage and proxy servers. The investigation revealed that Vishal created around 50 fake email IDs across platforms such as Proton Mail, Gmail and Outlook along with nearly 20 fake Facebook accounts using different identities.During a search of his room, police recovered five mobile phones, a laptop, memory cards, SIM cards and cash. Investigators also found objectionable digital content and draft messages threatening to blow up the Azamgarh roadways bus depot, indicating plans for further threats.