The Pune Police have registered a case against an unidentified person in connection with the hacking of the WhatsApp account of NCP (SP) Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule, an official said on Tuesday.
The official stated, "We have registered a case against an unidentified person under relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act. An investigation is underway."
The MP, who represents the Baramati constituency in Pune district, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, claiming her phone and WhatsApp account were hacked and requesting people not to call or message her. A few hours later, she expressed her gratitude to the Pune Rural Police and WhatsApp Support for their swift assistance in restoring her account.
On Monday, Sule revealed that she was being blackmailed after hackers demanded USD 400 from her team via a message following the hacking of her WhatsApp account. Recounting the incident, she told media, "I was in Daund when I received a WhatsApp message from a person. After reading the message, I found that my WhatsApp stopped working. I asked Jayant Patil (NCP (SP) state chief), who was sitting next to me, to send me a message on WhatsApp. I did not receive his text, but he got a reply. This clearly meant that someone else was using my WhatsApp. I turned off my mobile phone.”
The message Sule reportedly received read, “Hello! I am sorry I sent you my 6-digit code by SMS by mistake. Can you pass it to me please? It is urgent! SMS code.” She then asked her team to check if anyone else’s WhatsApp had been compromised. “We then found out that Aditi Nalawade’s (the party’s general secretary) WhatsApp had been hacked as well. Messages were sent from both mine and her WhatsApp accounts, asking for ₹10,000. Those who received the messages thought there was an emergency and called her back, asking what had happened,” Sule explained during a press conference at YB Chavan Centre in Nariman Point, Mumbai.
Sule further urged people to be cautious and use additional security measures for their phones and WhatsApp accounts. “The incident needs to be taken seriously by the government, the service providers, and us as well. We all need a firewall, as privacy is our choice,” she concluded.
