3 ARRESTED FOR ACTIVATING SIM CARDS WITH FAKE DOCUMENTS

THANE: The Bhoiwada police in Bhiwandi have busted a racket where three SIM card vendors were activating SIM cards using forged documents based on details submitted by bonafide customers.

According to the Bhoiwada police, the three accused – Irfan Ansari (23), Saeed Sheikh (24) and a 17-year-old – were arrested on Thursday on the basis of a tip off received by senior police inspector SA Indalkar.

Acting on a tip-off, police conducted raids at multiple locations in Dhamankar Naka and Gayatri Nagar in Bhiwandi, and arrested the trio, who worked as SIM card vendors for leading cellular service providers.

“Whenever a customer bought a SIM card from the accused, they’d take photographs of their Aadhaar cards as part of the purchase process. These Aadhaar cards would be edited using computer software with pictures, names and addresses on them being changed to generate a completely new identity. The forged Aadhaar cards would then be used to activate new SIM cards,” Indalkar said.

The accused had also found a way to beat the electronic thumb impressions.

“While collecting electronic thumb impressions of genuine customers, the accused would claim that there was some problem with their machine and get the customers to record their impressions multiple times. These extra impressions, stored separately, would then be paired with the bogus identities created by the accused while activating new SIM cards,” Indalkar said.

The police recovered a total of 361 activated SIM cards as well as 250 photocopies of Aadhaar cards, all bearing the same person’s photograph but different names and addresses, along with a colour printer and a SIM card activation machine, from the accused.

The trio was charged with cheating and forgery under the Indian Penal Code, and the two adult accused were placed under arrest, while the minor accused was sent to a juvenile detention facility.