2 held for issuing SIM cards on fake documents in UP

The Kanpur police has busted a gang that allegedly issued more than 11,000 SIM cards using forged documents and fake identities.

Two persons have been arrested in connection with the case.

As many as 800 fake Aadhaar cards have been recovered. All the SIM cards were from Vodafone Idea, which were activated by using fake Aadhaar cards. These SIMs were then sold to criminals and cyber thugs across the country.

The SIMs were used in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar for criminal activities.

Investigation into the case began after a transporter registered a case of cheating at Chakeri police station after he was duped of Rs 20,000.

During the probe, the police found that more than 2,000 SIM cards were activated on the same number.

DCP Crime, Salman Taj Patil, said, "Vodafone distributors Abhishek Mishra and Harshit Mishra used to create fake identity cards by misusing the pictures of their customers. Using these fake identities, they used to sell SIM cards at exorbitant rates. These SIM cards were used to dupe people across the country. Several bank frauds were committed using these SIM cards."

The police official said that alleged irregularities on the part of the company were evident and thousands of SIM cards were issued with the help of a single Aadhaar card.

The Crime Branch is now investigating the alleged role of Vodafone Idea officials in the matter.

The Crime Branch, Kanpur Unit will also write to senior officials of the company in this regard. They will also write to the Department of Telecom, Government of India over the alleged irregularities in the procedure of issuing Vodafone Idea SIM cards.

According to DCP Crime, forged Aadhaar cards were made through a website named 'Aadhaar Print', which has been one of the most searched websites on the Internet.

The accused used to save extra photographs of customers who used to buy SIM cards from them. By misusing those photographs, they used to make several forged Aadhaar cards.

"We are verifying whether the website is legal or not. Since it is a private site, we need to check the legality," the DCP Crime said.

The objective of the gang was to shoot up their sales and make maximum profit out of it, he added.

"This forgery was carried out by the distributors of Vodafone Idea, Abhishek Mishra and Harshit Mishra. The role of other suspects is being investigated," the police official said.