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Bhubaneswar: The Delhi Police have arrested a man from Odisha's Bhadrak district for allegedly selling SIM cards without documents.
Raids conducted in Jajpur and Bhadrak
On Saturday, a team from the Shaheen Bagh police station in Delhi conducted raids in Jajpur and at Manjuri Road market in neighbouring Bhadrak district. During the raids, two mobile phone shop owners were detained for questioning in connection with the illegal sale of SIM cards.
Two mobile shop owners taken into custody
The detained persons were identified as Santosh Khandei, who runs a mobile shop at Manjuri Road market, and his associate Maheshwar Puntia from the Tarago area. While the police took Santosh to Delhi on remand for questioning, the cops released Maheshwar after interrogation.
Illegal SIM activation racket
According to reports, the two accused were activating multiple SIM cards using the Aadhaar documents of customers who came to their shop to buy new connections. While only one SIM card was handed over to the actual customer, several others were activated without the customer’s knowledge. These extra SIM cards were then sold illegally.
Unemployed youths lured for SIM purchases
The accused allegedly lured several unemployed youths from the Korei area in Jajpur to buy SIM cards from their shop. They paid between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 per SIM card to these youths. The extra activated SIM cards were later sold to unidentified persons at higher prices.
SIM cards used for criminal activities
The illegally sold SIM cards were allegedly used for criminal activities. A case has been registered at the Shaheen Bagh police station in Delhi. Several illegal SIM cards sold by the accused have been seized from Santosh.
Financial transactions under scanner
Investigators have also found large-scale financial transactions in the bank accounts of the two accused. Police are now examining the money trail to identify other links and determine whether more people were involved in the racket.