One person was arrested from West Bengal's Bankura district late on Friday for allegedly sending SMSes to a local Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader in which he offered to hack electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the CPI(M) in lieu of money.
The CPI(M) leadership lodged a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday alleging that Bankura district committee secretary Amiyo Patro had been receiving SMSes and emails from an unknown sender who claimed to be an “expert EVM hacker.”
The person offered to hack EVMs in 10 constituencies in the district to give the CPI(M) the winning edge.
“The EC had asked Additional Director-General (Law and Order) Surajit Kar Purakayastha to initiate an inquiry into the matter. One person was arrested from Bankura last night in connection with the case,” State Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta said here on Saturday.
Mr. Gupta, however, refused to divulge the name of the person for the sake of further investigations.
“The mobile connection that the person used to send the SMSes was found to have been procured by unauthorised furnishing of identity documents. The arrested person works in an Internet supply agency. Interrogation is on,” Mr. Gupta said.
IT report on Trinamool case
Meanwhile, the Director-General (Investigation Cell) of the Income Tax Department on Saturday submitted a report sought by the EC in connection with the case of drafts worth over Rs.1 crore drawn by the Trinamool Congress from two nationalised banks through cash payment.
The EC had sought two separate reports from the Income Tax Department and the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Finance on the matter after receiving explanations from the chairmen of the two banks as well as the Trinamool.
