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.
During his campaign, Gandhi stated that "all thieves have Modi surname", equating Prime Minister Narendra Modi with fugitives like Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi. On March 23, a lower court in Surat found him guilty of defaming the entire Modi community in a case filed by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi.
A Delhi Police official said that one of the buyers was a liquor mafia group led by Sumit Anangpur from Faridabad, which purchased stolen luxury cars worth around Rs 20 lakh each, for just Rs 3-4 lakh and used them to hoodwink the agencies to transport foreign liquor to Bihar.
Last week, the country had seen a surge with 18,450 fresh cases, a substantial rise from the previous week's 8,781 cases. The Omicron variant XBB.1.16 is believed to be behind the sudden surge of the cases.
As many as two dozen fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the fire and the operation lasted more than six hours. More than two dozen fire tenders are on the spot, trying to douse the inferno.
Officials of the central jail have not confirmed his release prematurely. Sidhu on May 20, 2022, surrendered before a court in Patiala in a 1988 road rage case that had led to the death of a 65-year-old man.
Out of total 36 people who died in the heart wrenching incident, the youngest victim was a two-year-old boy, Hitansh, while the eldest one was an 80-year-old woman identified as Jayvanti Devi, according to police. Most of the victims were women.
