Bettiah: A 25-year-old man was arrested in West Champaran district for allegedly chatting with Pakistan-based phone numbers and conducting suspicious QR code-linked financial transactions, police said on Thursday.The accused, identified as Khurshid Alam, a resident of Chaube Tola in Jaukatia village under Majhaulia police station limits, was arrested on Wednesday evening during a raid near the Majhaulia Sugar Mill following a tip-off.Bettiah Sadar SDPO Vivek Deep said that a preliminary examination of the accused’s cellphones revealed chats with numbers bearing Pakistan’s country code (+92). Police also found several suspicious QR codes stored on the devices, raising concerns that they may have been used for financial transactions linked to a larger network. During the arrest, police recovered two cellphones and three ATM cards from the accused.A case has been registered against Alam under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the IT Act. Investigators are now trying to determine the nature of the transactions conducted through the QR codes and identify the people the accused was in contact with.“Further investigation is underway to ascertain whether the activities were part of a broader cross-border network. Our priority is to determine if Alam was a lone actor or a small cog in a broader anti-national network,” the SDPO said.
