Ludhiana (September 27, 2012): The matter of detention of Daljit Singh Bittu, former president of Akali Dal Panch Pardhani has taken another turn. Today police produced Daljit Singh in the court of Ludhiana magistrate Mr. Ashish Thathai and demanded further custody to investigate the calls from phone numbers starting with +92, ISD code of Pakistan. Police alleged that Daljit Singh was in constant contact with others in Pakistan as they have found a number of calls from ISD code (+92) of Pakistan. SHO Nirmal Singh of Division No. 5 police station insisted that they need further custody of Daljit Singh to investigate his links with Paksitan.
Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema, Advo. Gurmeet Singh Rattu and Advo. Jaspal Singh Manjhpur, who represented Daljit Singh in the court today, informed that Police produced a list of around 30 to 40 calls from ISD code +92 on Daljit Singh’s mobile number. Most of these calls were “missed calls” and only two or three of them were “received calls” or “call backs” and that too for very limited period of duration.
Daljit Singh’s counsels told the court that this list does not mean anything because it is a widely known and officially acknowledged fact that these fake calls with ISD code +92 are linked with lottery scams or spam callers.
“We told the court that even BSNL Offices had issued alerts to subscribers — particularly about the numbers starting with +92, #90 or #09 — saying that calling the number back after a missed call may make a user susceptible to SIM card cloning.” informed Advocate Harpal Singh.
Similar alert was also issued by AirTel, a company whose number was in used with Daljit Singh, and other telecom companies.
Even Daljit Singh personally told the court that he accidentally picked such a call and there was an automated message that his number had won some lottery. “As I had never applied for such a lottery, I realised that it was a fake call and I disconnected it” Daljit Singh reportedly told the Court.
Despite our all opposition and arguments the Magistrate has extended the custody of Daljit Singh for two more days till 29th of September, he told media.
He alleged that Daljit Singh was being unduly harassed by Punjab police due to political reasons.
“This is an attempt to crush the dissenting political ideology of Akali Dal Panch Pardhani” added Advocate Cheema, who is also Senior-Vice President of Panch Pardhani.
Meanwhile, it is further learnt that Daljit Singh complained custodial torture. Counsels of Daljit Singh today informed that court that he was subjected to physical and mental torture by the police during police custody.
“We have moved an application to get Daljit Singh examined by a board of medical officers and doctor and further urged the court to take necessary steps to prevent Bhai Daljit Singh’s custodial torture” Advocate J. S. Manjhpur informed.
“The court has admitted the matter and issued notices to the relevant authorities” he added. It is notable that was Daljit Singh booked for “waging war against the State” and various other offences under Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (P) Act, Arms Act and Explosives Act. It is learnt that Arms Act and Explosive Act was lashed on Daljit Singh without any recovery. Police has termed the books and magazines duly published under law as “anti-national” literature to lash UA(P)A in this case.
Following information was also attached to a press release issued by Akali Dal Panch Pardhani under the title of “Supportive Documents or Links“: (1) AirTel’s alters regarding fake calls from ISD code +92 reads as: “We would like to issue a general advisory to caution Indian telecom customers who are being arbitrarily targeted by calls fraudulently claiming the recipient customer as being a Prize/Lottery Winner. In these types of phone frauds, the customer returns a missed call to a +92 or +375 country code and inadvertently reaches a fraudster pretending to be representative of airtel or another Indian mobile operator and informs the customer of having won some lottery/prize money. The fraudster then attempts to trick the customer into divulging sensitive personal information and to pay a commission to receive the winnings. Such commission is usually asked to be paid via an international DTH operator’s recharge vouchers”. Visit: http://www.airtel.in/fraudAlert/fraudalert.html to read full of AirTel’s alert. (2) News Report as regards BSNL Alert: Next time if you get a missed call starting with +92; #90 or #09, don’t show the courtesy of calling back. BSNL has issued alerts to subscribers — particularly about the series mentioned above — saying that calling the number back after a missed call may make a user susceptible to SIM card cloning. (reports Times of India) Visit: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-02/security/32507577_1_sim-card-subscribers-bsnl-office to read more. (3) News report as regards Vodafone Alert: Vodafone has cautioned its customers against unidentified calls originating from Pakistan. “At Vodafone we care for your security. If you receive a missed call from an unidentified number starting with +92, do not call back or divulge any personal details,” reads an SMS sent out to Vodafone customers. (+92 is Pakistan’s international direct dialing code). Visit: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-02-01/mumbai/28143308_1_vodafone-customers-bharti-airtel-vodafone-spokesperson to read more.