Nepali man held in Delhi for supplying Indian SIM cards to ISI handlers

SIM cards were misused on WhatsApp from Lahore and Bahawalpur to target Indian Army; police recovered devices, chats, and SIM envelopes.

Updated on: Sep 10, 2025, 05:34:06 IST

By Jignasa Sinha

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A 43-year-old Nepali national has been arrested in Delhi for allegedly supplying Indian SIM cards to Pakistan’s ISI handlers in Nepal for espionage, police said Tuesday. The accused, Prabhat Kumar Chaurasiya, was lured with promises of a US visa and a chance to study journalism in America, investigators said.

Investigators said SIMs were used to contact Army staff, gather info on DRDO, and aid espionage; the accused was nabbed before reaching Rajasthan. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Chaurasiya was picked up from Laxmi Nagar by Delhi Police’s Special Cell on August 28. According to police, he planned to travel to Rajasthan, but was detained before that.

DCP (Special Cell) Amit Kaushik said inputs suggested Indian SIM cards were being misused in Pakistan to communicate with Army personnel and seek sensitive information. “These SIMs were being used for espionage and other anti-India activities through platforms such as WhatsApp,” he said.

Investigators traced the supply chain and identified Chaurasiya as the key “supplier.” He was seen in multiple cities in Bihar and Maharashtra purchasing SIMs before allegedly handing them over in Nepal to ISI handlers. Police recovered multiple SIM envelopes, devices, and incriminating chats from his possession.

During questioning, Chaurasiya admitted to procuring 16 SIM cards. Of these, 11 were found active on WhatsApp from Pakistan, including in Lahore and Bahawalpur.

Police said he came into contact with ISI operatives in 2024 through a Nepali acquaintance. “He was promised help in securing a US visa in exchange for supplying SIM cards and gathering information related to DRDO and Army establishments,” Kaushik said.

Chaurasiya, a graduate with a diploma in IT and computer hardware, had earlier run a logistics company in Kathmandu that shut down in 2017 after losses. He has been booked under sections 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) and 152 (acts endangering unity of India) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jignasa Sinha
Jignasa Sinha is a Special Correspondent at Hindustan Times in New Delhi. With more than six years of reporting experience, she covers crime and policing in the national capital. Her beats also include Delhi prisons, the Delhi Fire Services and Delhi courts, while she regularly reports on gender, labour and social justice. Over the course of her career, Jignasa has reported on major criminal investigations, international crime syndicates, high-profile cyber fraud cases, law-and-order developments, protests, disasters and public institutions. Her reporting combines breaking news with in-depth, long form, human interest stories that examine the human impact of public policy, policing and the criminal justice system. In addition to reporting for the newspaper, she contributes to the Hindustan Times website and app, and plays an active role in coordinating on-ground coverage of major developments and breaking news across Delhi. Before joining Hindustan Times, Jignasa worked at The Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi, where she spent five years covering crime, Delhi airport, courts and health. She began her journalism career as an intern at an AI magazine in Bengaluru while pursuing her postgraduate diploma in multimedia journalism at the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media.Read More

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