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.
According to the police, acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Sector-40 and cybercrime police stations raided a call centre running in South City Phase-1 and arrested 11 persons, who used to allegedly cheat residents of the US and Canada.
Guru Tegh Bahadur, also known as Hind Di Chadar, stands as a shining symbol of the country's great pluralistic tradition and secularism, and his supreme sacrifice forms an important part of India's history. According to the Chief Minister, Haryana shares a special bond not only with Guru Tegh Bahadur but all 10 Sikh gurus as most of them travelled across the state.
The delegation has demanded that the police should avoid unilateral action and arrest the culprits as soon as possible, and take stern action against whoever is guilty without any discrimination.
Seven others were injured in the mishap, who have shifted to the BDK Hospital in Jhunjhunu. As per the locals, around 18 members of a family had gone to immerse the ashes of an elderly family member who passed away recently when their vehicle overturned.
Superintendent of Police, Rae Bareli, Shlok Kumar said that the main accused in the case is a minor and has been sent to a juvenile home, while six others, identified as Abhishek, Vikas Pasi, Mahendra Kumar, Hrithik Singh, Aman Singh and Yash Pratap are majors and they have been arrested.
Denying bail to the jeweller Dev Varma (40), Chief metropolitan magistrate Pankaj Sharma said in the Monday's order that some of the expensive jewellery in connection with the crime was yet to be recovered and pointed out the Delhi Police's stand in the matter.
