Mayurbhanj: The Crime Branch of Odisha Police have busted a SIM box racket by arresting six fraudsters in Mayurbhanj district.
The accused have been identified as Vishal Khandelwal (mastermind of the gang), Tapas Kumar Patra, Nigam Patra, Sudhansu Das, Aju Patra and Ajay Kumar Patra. They were nabbed on Tuesday during raids at Betanati and Baripada on the basis of a complaint lodged by the Department of Telecommunications. Several pre-activated SIM cards and other equipment for the illegal telephone exchange were seized from them.
According to sources, the gang used pre-activated SIM cards to generate KYC-related fraud messages in the SIM boxes to defraud people in various parts of the country. Khandelwal, alias Jonti, was procuring SIM boxes and engaged Tapas for sending fake messages to people by using pre-activated SIMs that were supplied by Sudhansu and Nigam.
The investigation revealed that the SIM box racket was being operated from Odisha and Bihar. “While the prime job of the arrested gang members was to send fake KYC-related messages, their Bihar counterparts were fraudulently drawing money from the accounts of those people who fell prey to the messages,” a Crime Branch officer told TOI.
It is pertinent to mention here that Odisha police had busted a similar racket in Berhampur in July 2017. Police had then arrested four persons for operating an illegal telephone exchange with the help of the SIM boxes at the behest of underworld don Chhota Rajan. Using the telephone exchange, Rajan’s gang members had demanded Rs 2 crore extortion from a builder in Mumbai.
