Now, the underwrold masterminds abductions via satellite phones
DALIP SINGH

NEW DELHI, MARCH 25: Investigating agencies are alarmed over the discovery that the underworld is using satellite mobile phones for abduction, following the recent revelation that the Babloo Srivastava gang had taken the help of the sophisticated technology to lure UAE businessman Teikhat Siddiq.

The CBI recovered an INMARSAT mobile satellite phone following a shoot-out in which three members of the Babloo Srivastava gang were gunned down by a joint team of the CBI and Delhi Police's Special Cell in South Delhi on March 18.

The INMARSAT satellite phone (no. 00873762756020) was being used by Virender Panth, long considered the right-hand man of Srivastava, who himself is incarcerated in Naini Jail in Uttar Pradesh. Panth, who was killed in the incident, was using a false name -- Vinod Rathore -- to get Siddiq to Delhi for business deals. The abductors had asked for a Rs 2-crore ransom from Siddiq.

CBI sleuths are digging further to find out who exactly owns this satellite mobile, from where it was bought and how it found its way to India. The agency is also verifying the emerging in preliminary investigations, which indicate that the satphone was bought in the Gulf and most likely, transported to India via Nepal.

CBI joint director Neeraj Kumar, who is handling this case, told The Indian Express that though top names in the underworld -- Dawood Ibrahim, Abu Salem and Chhota Rajan -- use satellite phones regularly to keep in touch with their trusted lieutenants, this is the first known instance of the underworld using satellite phones for abduction. ``Abu Salem uses sat phones to avoid being tracked down,'' he stated, adding however, that the Babloo Srivastava gang has been found to be using this for the first time.

For investigators, sat phones might be a new phenomenon, but the instruments are common in Jammu and Kashmir where the top leadership of militant outfits use it to keep in touch with their contacts across the border.

This, however, is not the first case of sleuths finding a sat phone while investigating a criminal case. The Delhi Police had seized a similar INMARSAT mobile satellite phone used by Mumbai gangster Ashwin Naik, who was arrested in a murder and narcotics case two years ago.

According to Pramod Singh Kushwah, who was instrumental in tracking down one of the key accused in the case and is now serving as Assistant Commissioner of Delhi Police Tilak Nagar, the set (no. 00873761236596) was purchased in USA by Ashwin Naik and registered in Dubai. It was activated on January 16, 1998, by Gallery -- a Dubai-based service provider, he added.

Though the local goons continue to use mobile phones for most of their operations, kingpins based abroad have switched over to it recently.

Sat phones are costly, with the basic sets priced between Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 lakh. The calls per minute are very expensive and depend on the region of use. ``The underworld is looking to abduct the rich and NRIs. If they manage to catch hold of one businessman, they earn no less than Rs 1 crore,'' Kushwah said. This is the reason why Abu Salem and his likes are able to afford these sat phones, he added.

The ABC of satellite phones

SAT phones usually come in two models. One, a handset-like phone and the other is like a laptop. The set recovered by the CBI has to be opened and the attached antenna has to be kept far from the terminal and in an open space to catch the signals. The sat phones also have sim cards like mobile phones.

Explaining the functioning of the satellite phones, experts in the feild of communication said that INMAR satellites are strategically positioned in geostationary orbit, covering the space like a continuous world-wide web.

Every time a call is made from an INMARSAT phone, it is beamed to one of these satellites which transmit the signals to giant communication antennae, which are further routed to ordinary networks passing the call on the sat phones, experts point out.

The nearest gateway to India is in Dubai. It's called Etisalat and calls originating in India are passed through VSNL Mumbai. -- ENS

Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.