Phone shop owner held for selling SIM cards without ID proofs

The chief minister’s flying squad on Wednesday raided a shop in Sector 44 and arrested a 28-year-old man for allegedly selling SIM cards without asking for identity proofs

Updated on: Jan 13, 2021, 23:11:26 IST

By Leena Dhankhar, Gurugram

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The chief minister’s flying squad on Wednesday raided a shop in Sector 44 and arrested a 28-year-old man for allegedly selling SIM cards without asking for identity proofs.

The suspect was identified as Vijay Kumar Mandal of Supaul in Bihar. He lived in a rented room in Kanhai village and was running a mobile phone shop for the last four years.

Harish Budhiraja, inspector, chief minister’s flying squad, said that they had visited the shop twice in the last two days and bought three SIM cards without giving any identification documents. “We deployed two people near the shop who kept a close watch on his operations and Wednesday, we caught him red-handed and recovered a register which mentioned all details of the SIM cards and name and IDs used on their behalf,” he said.

Budhiraja said that they started sending decoy customers after receiving a tip-off. Mandal used to allegedly supply SIM cards of different telecom operators and activate the same without any identity proof, he said.

Inderjeet Yadav, deputy superintendent of police, Crime Investigation Department, said they received a tip-off on Monday about the illegal sale. “On average, he used to sell 10 SIM cards daily for between ₹1,000 and ₹1,200, without taking any details. He has sold more than a 1,000 SIM cards in the last four years and we are probing if anyone else is also part of this fraud,” he said.

A case under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (punishment for forgery) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Sushant Lok police station on Wednesday.

The suspect was taken on a one-day remand for questioning. The police recovered 44 SIM cards and initiated a probe to find the source of these SIM cards in Gurugram.

On October 22, 2020, the same squad had arrested another person man for allegedly selling multiple SIM cards on seven identity cards. A case was registered at the Sector 17/18 police station.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leena Dhankhar
Leena Dhankhar is the Bureau Chief of the Gurugram bureau at Hindustan Times, where she covers crime, excise, civic agencies, forests and wildlife, real estate, and politics. With over a decade of experience at the organisation, she has reported some of the region’s most impactful stories, known for her deep investigative work and on-ground reporting. Leena has extensively covered major crime cases, systemic lapses and financial irregularities, often exposing civic agency failures and prompting administrative action. Her journalism is driven by accountability, public interest, and a commitment to highlighting issues that shape everyday life in Gurugram.Read More

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