NEW DELHI: Thousands of households in Pakistan, particularly in the Lahore area, are illegally buying subscriptions to various Indian direct-to-home platforms by illegally transferring money to India through ATMs in Bihar and adjoining areas.
The connections are bought through some operators in Pakistan who get the PIN numbers of the DTH connections from some Indian locals.
A report on the Pakistani website apnatime.com origin quotes analysts as saying that there is no proper way of restricting signals in the adjoining areas or countries as DTH has a wide area of reception. "From the service end, with so many means of transferring money, it has become even difficult to stop the gray channel; on the unofficial side, no company discourages it as it brings more revenue to the company", the website says.
The equipment for these services is easily available in various parts of Pakistan including Hall Road in Lahore for a few thousand rupees. These are mostly purchased by cable operators who sell Indian channels to their customers as there is a huge demand for them in Pakistan, though some individuals have also bought these dishes.
With the rise of LCD and LED sale in Pakistan, the demand for high definition content has increased and people are no more finding the conventional cable very much according to their requirement. Therefore, demand for DTH equipment is rising. Since, there is no DTH operator in Pakistan working at the moment, therefore, people are jumping toward their favourite Indian alternatives.
The Indian newspaper “The Telegraph” had earlier reported that money is deposited into the bank accounts of the locals in the Bihar and its adjoining districts. The money is withdrawn through ATM cards and is used for purchasing the coupons of Direct-To-Home (DTH) services such as Tata Sky or Dish TV.
The PIN numbers of these coupons are then sent to some “Barde Sahib” who, according to the local police of Bihar, resides in Pakistan.
Indian police says these bank accounts are opened in the name of poor local residents of the district who get Rs 5,000 per month for letting brokers use their accounts and ATM cards.
According to the investigators, the PIN numbers of these coupons are sent to Pakistan and other neighbouring countries through SMS and Emails.
The Indian Police has arrested some local shopkeepers who sell DTH recharge coupons. One of the shopkeepers said he sold Rs 1.5 million worth of coupons. Another shopkeeper sold Rs 400,000 worth of recharge coupons in just 10 days.
