Mumbai: The managing Director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ashwini Bhide recently became a victim of a DoS (denial of service) attack when her mobile phone was inundated with calls and text messages from citizens protesting against Metro-III in Aarey.
The IAS officer was forced to change his number four times since the “telephone harassment” lasted more than two weeks. Traumatized, he alerted MMRC security adviser, the retired ACP Sanjay Dani, who filed a complaint with the police of the Bandra-Kurla complex (BKC) last week. Police discovered that calls and text messages were routed from a server based in Bengaluru.
The BKC Chief Inspector of Police, Kalpana Gadekar, confirmed that an FIR has been registered against unidentified persons. A police officer said: “It is a typical type of DoS attack in which the recipient’s phone is flooded with calls and messages, it does not allow him to make calls or use his server,” said a police officer.
The police are checking the details of the Save Aarey activists, as well as the role of Jhatkaa.org that was hired by the citizens forum, Aarey Conservation Group. Police said the non-profit organization had distributed the phone numbers of several officials associated with the project and appealed to citizens to call them. “Two weeks ago, we circulated the telephone numbers of the prime minister’s office, the district collectors, the MMRC chief and other officials involved with Metro-III because it was approved without public consultation, but we do not have any paper in the calls. unidentified, “said Avijit M, trustee of Jhatkaa.org.
Bhide did not respond to TOI calls and messages on Wednesday. Dani told the police: “Initially, the calls came from a number, then they got several numbers … Bhide blocked her number and got a new one, but the harassment continued, she had to change her number four times.” -V Narayan
