SIM Box Racket In Odisha: Police Take Accused Raju Mandal On Another 2-Day Remand

Bhubaneswar: A day after divulging details about the mastermind, Asadur Zaman, in SIM box set racket, Commissionerate Police on Friday took key accused Raju Mandal on another two-day remand.

Bangladeshi national Asadur was the handler of Mandal, a resident of West Bengal arrested on August 17 with over 1,000 pre-activated SIM cards along with routers and other equipment from a house in Bhubaneswar. A day later, a local court here granted Odisha Police five-day remand of Mandal. Odisha police had also sought assistance from the NIA and Interpol to probe any potential terrorist connections between Mandal and Asadur, who allegedly operated SIM box centres at Bhubaneswar and Ranchi from Dhaka.

Also Read: Asadur Zaman Operated SIM Boxes In Bhubaneswar From Bangladesh With Smart Switch: CP

Mandal had allegedly procured the devices and fake SIM cards from Asadur and then installed them in three rented houses in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Ranchi. A total of 12 SIM boxes, 481 SIM cards, an extra 810 stand-by SIM cards were seized during the raids in both Cuttack and Bhubaneswar and another five SIM boxes from Ranchi.

The SIM boxes were allegedly used to make international calls to countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkey, raising suspicions of terrorist involvement.