Two held in Greater Noida for selling SIM cards to suspicious persons

The anti-extortion cell of the city police arrested two persons for allegedly selling SIM cards on fake documents to suspicious persons, the police said. The accused, Satyendra Singh and Dev Prakash, were arrested following a raid at Jagat Farm market on Thursday night.

“The accused used to run a telecom shop—JP Enterprise— at Jagat Farm. Through intelligence inputs, it was found that they were selling SIM cards at higher rates to suspicious persons who did not have valid identification papers. A team of the anti-extortion cell, led by sub inspector Ajay Kumar Sharma, went to the location on Thursday night,” Abhishek Yadav, superintendent of police (rural), Gautam Budh Nagar, said.

He said that a police officer in plainclothes approached the shop and asked for a SIM card without giving identification proof. The shopkeeper agreed and said that he could arrange a fake Id proof. The plainclothes officer called for reinforcement after confirmation and the police party raided the shop, Yadav said.

“We recovered stamps of 17 different private companies, notary stamps, six fake affidavits, fake lease and rent agreements, three fake voter identification cards, two PAN cards and four identification cards of a telecom service provider company from their possession,” Yadav said.

The police said both the accused are from Hathras area of western Uttar Pradesh and were living at a rented accommodation in Greater Noida.

“During questioning, it was found that the duo had sold scores of SIM cards without identification proof for higher prices. It is suspected that many suspected criminals, mostly those who have snatched mobile phones, have bought SIM cards from the accused by paying Rs 500-Rs 600 for fake identity proofs,” Yadav said.

The police said they are compiling a data of all the SIM cards they have sold on fake identification proofs.

“We will put the suspicious numbers on surveillance to know the IMEI number of the phones. The accused were produced in court and sent to jail,” Ajay Kumar Sharma, in-charge of the anti-extortion cell, said.

He said that no civilian will seek a SIM card on a fake Id proof. Only those who want it for a specific, illegal purpose would buy it.

“All such persons will be under scanner,” he said.