MEERUT: A man in his early 20s was arrested from UP’s Saharanpur for allegedly hacking into the website of the Election Commission of India (ECI). Initial information said that the youth was allegedly making thousands of voter ID cards in his tiny computer shop in Saharanpur’s Nakud region.
Vipul Saini used to log into the ECI website using the same password that the ECI officials were using, police said. ECI had noticed something amiss and reported the matter to multiple investigative agencies which traced Saini's whereabouts and informed the Saharanpur police.
Election Commission has taken an action to secure data on its website and said that the the database is absolutely safe and secure now.
Investigation agencies in Delhi will now secure Saini’s remand through the court.
A joint team of cyber cell sleuths and the Saharanpur crime branch arrested Saini from Macharhedi village on Thursday. Saini recently completed his Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) from a university in UP. Police have also raided his shop and seized hard drives and computers.
According to police officers, Saini’s bank account had “a substantial amount of money running into lakhs of rupees”. Police also found that Saini had made thousands of voter ID cards over the past three months. What he intended to do with the voter ID cards, however, wasn’t clear at the moment.
“As of now, we cannot say why he was making these cards or for what purpose they were being used. There is a lot to be investigated before arriving at any conclusion,” SSP Saharanpur S Chanappa told TOI.
During interrogation, Saini also named a resident of Harda district in Madhya Pradesh, Arman Malik, as his accomplice, police said.
