Shop owner remanded in police custody for forging SIM documents

Kolkata: A shop owner was remanded in police custody on Monday for six days after being arrested for allegedly forging documents while issuing SIM cards of a mobile

service provider to his customers in

Lake Town. He was arrested on Sunday night and produced before the Bidhannagar ACJM Court the next day.

According to sources, on November 17 the Circle Nodal Officer of the mobile service provider lodged a complaint with the lake Town police against the shop owner in Dakshindari area. The shop owner—identified as Jogendra Ojha—was marked as a Point of Sales (PoS) agent. The official alleged that Ojha had issued 62 new mobile connections during September 2020 using photographs of only

two persons.

But, the names of the subscribers and address proofs such as Aadhar Card or other documents were different. The forgery was spotted when the mobile service provider conducted a manual scrutiny in October.

The service provider grew suspicious as Ojha—who had sold lesser cards in the previous months— sold a good number of SIM cards in one month. Since, it was not possible to match the pictures with the documents online or automatically, the authority decided to conduct a manual scrutiny. Sources said the services to 62 SIM cards were suspended as soon as the forgery was spotted. Further investigation is underway.