Indian authorities have apprehended a man who orchestrated an elaborate cyber-enabled extortion scheme targeting judicial facilities in Uttar Pradesh, revealing a disturbing case of personal vengeance disguised as terrorism threats.
Vishal Ranjan, the accused, was arrested on February 22 from his rented accommodation in Azamgarh district following an intensive digital manhunt conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). The investigation began after the district judge of Jaunpur received bomb threats via official email channels on February 17.
The suspect employed sophisticated evasion techniques, utilizing paid VPN services, multiple WiFi connections, and approximately 50 fabricated email accounts across Proton Mail, Gmail, and Outlook platforms. According to investigative reports, Ranjan demanded a ransom of ₹100,000 (approximately $1,200) to be delivered through the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s office, threatening to detonate explosives at the Jaunpur court complex and police lines if his demands were unmet.
Forensic examination of seized devices—including five mobile phones, a laptop, memory cards, and multiple SIM cards—uncovered draft messages targeting additional infrastructure, notably the Azamgarh bus depot. Investigators confirmed these threats would likely have been executed absent timely intervention.
The motivation behind this complex scheme emerged as deeply personal rather than ideological. Police revealed Ranjan had developed romantic feelings for a woman whose family had arranged her marriage to a Jaunpur resident. After creating fake social media profiles to post objectionable content in the groom’s name, which resulted in a formal village mediation requiring his apology, Ranjan allegedly devised the bomb threat plot to frame both the prospective groom and other village youths.
His methodology involved extracting contact information from a local cricket tournament pamphlet that featured attendees of the mediation meeting. Using these details, he created false digital identities to send threatening communications, apparently hoping authorities would apprehend the innocent individuals.
The case has been registered under multiple legal provisions including India’s new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita criminal code and information technology statutes, highlighting the evolving challenges law enforcement faces in addressing digitally-facilitated crimes with traditional anti-terrorism frameworks.