New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) Delhi Police have busted an international racket supplying fake SIM cards, which duped a person in the national capital by impersonating as a senior government functionary, an official said on Friday.
A senior Delhi Police official told IANS that on April 7, a case was registered at the Cyber Cell in which a fraudster impersonated as a senior government official using the WhatsApp display profile and the name of that dignitary and demanded financial favour in the shape of Amazon gift vouchers by pretending to be in trouble.
"During investigation, technical analysis concluded that the main culprit was operating from Nigeria," DCP K.P.S. Malhotra said.
The Amazon gift vouchers so cheated were made available on different groups of Telegram, Paxful.com and other social media groups by the accused person operating from Nigeria.
"A team of Cyber Cell collected the traces and joined the necessary dots to track the Indian associates of the Nigerian national involved in the crime," the officer said.
Subsequently, one accused, identified as Nitin Tomar, was arrested from Pune, and 42 SIM cards procured on fake IDs were recovered from his possession.
Tomar disclosed that he used to procure SIM cards from one Parmanand Sahu through a Telegram group. To earn more profit, he started selling the SIM cards he purchased through the website in the name of Bullashop.com.
"Later, Parmanand Sahu, who is a resident of Chhattisgarh, was arrested from near the Red Fort in Delhi when he had come here to sell the SIM cards in the gray market. Two hundred SIM cards procured on fake IDs were recovered from his possession," Malhotra.
Sahu disclosed that he procured the SIM cards from the vendors, promoting sale of service providers. He procured the fake IDs from a Telegram group and supplied them to the salespersons.
During the investigation, 143 SIM more cards were recovered at Sahu's instance, the officer said, adding that further investigation is in progress.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday granted bail to senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who was in jail over for over five months for his alleged involvement in a drugs case registered in December 2021. A division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Sureshwar Thakur had reserved the order on the bail plea on July 29.
In a major breakthrough in the killing of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu in 2020, Punjab Police on Tuesday arrested key accused Gurwinder Singh, a.k.a. Baba, from Tarn Taran.
Cyber Crime Portal from the complainant Baldev Singh (a head Granthi in a Gurudwara in Delhi) was received alleging that he was contacted by a person in name of providing Kirtan opportunity in marriages and other cultural occasions in various cities of United States. Following this offer, the complainant transferred Rs. 1.25 lakh in bank accounts provided by the accused person.
Deputy Inspector General, Anti-Gangster Task Force Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the team acted on a tip off to locate the kingpin Parminder Singh, alias Pindri, who was handling the operation of Bishnoi gang in the Nangal-Ropar belt. He said 22 first information reports (FIRs), including an attempt to murder, have been registered against the gangster.
The passenger reached at terminal number 3 on August 6. He was intercepted after he had crossed the Green Channel and was approaching towards the exit gate. On thorough checking of his baggage, nothing suspicious was found.
The operation was carried out in all seven border districts of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Batala, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Fazilka. Major focus of this operation was to keep vigil on movement of drones carrying drugs and arms, ammunition, explosives and grenades in the border areas, an official statement said.
