A shocking number of cellphone Sim cards in the city are obtained using fake documents, the Mumbai police revealed on Sunday. The revelation comes after a recent check on Sim cards following the Pune German Bakery blast, the Jama Masjid firing and the subsequent Indian Mujahideen emails.
After the Pune blast, the police had conducted a survey and was shocked to find out that around 1 lakh Sim cards were procured with the help of fake documents.
According to the findings, over 75 per cent of the Sim cards in the city were procured using bogus documents. In most cases, the address proof and the photographs submitted were invalid.
When contacted Sanjeev Dayal, Mumbai commissioner of police said, “We have found that around 60 per cent of the cellphone connections have been procured using fake documents. This is a serious concern and we are talking to the service provides as well as the distributors and realtors to solve this problem.”
However, a major worry for the police is the rise in the usage of prepaid Sim cards obtained using fake ID proofs.
“In most of the recent cases of shootouts in the city, the Sim cards used by the accused were procured on fake documents,” said crime branch officials. “The gang members buy Sim cards in bulk, and use each of them for just two to three calls, and then discard them,” an official said.
Recently, the IM sent a terror email using a cellphone connection, which was procured fraudulently. The police has still not been able to trace the sender of the mail.
Moreover, not just terror outfits, but underworld syndicates are also obtaining Sim cards thorough fake documents “It becomes tedious and time consuming to track the real culprits. Further, by the time the accused are traced, they have already fled the city or even the country,” the official said.
A couple of days ago, home minister R.R. Patil had said that fake SIM cards would be seized and strict action would be taken against those who sell these cards without proper verification.