Chandigarh Police have arrested a heavily indebted digital creator who allegedly partnered with foreign hackers on the dark web to launch cross-country bomb hoaxes. The suspect, Saurab Biswas from West Bengal, was taken into custody on a production warrant from Delhi's Tihar Jail following a multi-state manhunt.
Targets and Methods
Investigators revealed that Biswas targeted the high-security Punjab Civil Secretariat, the Chandigarh High Court, and several elite schools with emailed bomb threats. According to police, he extracted a "psychological thrill" from the chaos caused by these threats. The Sector 3 police station obtained a one-day remand from a local court to interrogate Biswas, who had previously been intercepted by Gujarat and Delhi police forces during a coordinated federal security response.
Dark Web Alliances and Cross-Border Data Sales
Police investigators stated that Biswas, an online gaming addict, turned to cybercrime after racking up hundreds of thousands of rupees in losses playing PUBG and Free-Fire. Obsessed with clearing his debts overnight, he allegedly entered international dark web chat rooms, where he connected with Pakistani and Bangladeshi hackers seeking a domestic asset to trigger public panic in India. Detectives say that Biswas compiled and sold comprehensive Indian email datasets across the border for ₹24,000 per set, while utilizing Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to mask his IP addresses behind American, European, and Bangladeshi servers.
Cyber-Thriller Obsession
During initial interrogation, Biswas reportedly confessed that his operational methods were inspired by popular cyber-thriller television programs, specifically 'Money Heist' and 'Asur'. "The accused derived a distinct psychological thrill from the disruptions," a senior Chandigarh Police official said. "Whenever he dispatched a threat to a school or court, he would immediately monitor live television news, smiling as broadcast footage showed bomb squads and panicked evacuations."
The suspect was originally tracked down and arrested by Gujarat Police last year, leading to his incarceration at Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Jail before being transferred through the Tihar network. Chandigarh Police plan to cross-reference his confessions with pending cyber-terror files across multiple jurisdictions.
