Chandigarh, May 25 (IANS) To curb the menace of issuing SIM cards on fake identities, a major security threat, the Punjab Police have got blocked over 1.8 lakh SIM cards activated using fake identities and forged documents, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said on Thursday.
In one case 500 SIM cards have been issued with the same photograph but in different names by forging documents.
The Internal Security Wing in association with the Department of Telecom had begun a crackdown against distributors and agents selling SIM cards on fake identities.
Yadav said: "Action is being initiated against point of sales distributors, agents and other persons involved in issuing SIM cards on fake IDs."
The police have arrested 17 people, who were found involved in the sale of SIM cards on fake documents, besides registering 52 FIRs in the last three days.
Special DGP (Internal Security) R.N. Dhoke said that he had held multiple meetings with the Department of Telecom and telecom service providers. Subsequent to that action was taken.
He said Inspector General of Police (Counter Intelligence) Rakesh Agrawal has been made the nodal officer and a drive is on to further identify the SIM cards issued on fake IDs.
The special DGP also warned retailers of strict action for failing to comply with the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, a lapse that resulted in the activation of thousands of SIM cards fraudulently.
"Special teams of the Counter Intelligence Wing have been coordinating with the district police to zero in on SIM card retailers, who activated different mobile phone numbers with the same proof of identity," he said, adding that they are also taking up the matter with the telecom authorities to blacklist such agents.
Accused Rahul Kumar was arrested by cyber crime police station team (east) of the Gurugram police on Monday. Rahul Kumar was on the run since June 2021 when he along with his accomplice had duped a Gurugram resident of Rs 51,218 on the pretext of renewing his vehicle policy.
The foundation stone of the cancer hospital, the first of its kind cancer care in north India, was laid by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on December 30, 2013. At that time Parkash Singh Badal was the Chief Minister of Punjab in a coalition of the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government.
The leader, who complained of uneasiness on Monday night, was taken to hospital at around 8 a.m. this morning, where she was declared brought dead. Sonali Phogat had contested the 2019 Haryana Assembly election from Adampur and lost to Congress candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi.
During investigation, it was found that Swapna is a school dropout but managed to get a degree certificate from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University. Based on the fake certificate and influence of high ranking officials like Sivasankar, she secured a plush job in the IT department which was headed by Vijayan.
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asked Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) Pankaj Kumar to enhance vigil at the borders of the state for checking smuggling of drugs and weapons from across the border. The Director General had called on the Chief Minister here on July 31.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sukhchain Singh Gill, while addressing his weekly press conference here, said they have recovered 11.73 kg heroin, 20 kg opium, 9 kg ganja, 5.76 quintals of poppy husk, and 28,000 tablets of Pharma opioids, besides recovering Rs 20 lakh drug money after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas.
