Bengaluru electrician's stolen SIM used in 50 lakh extortion call, 1 held at Bandra-Kurla Complex

MUMBAI: Bandra-Kurla Complex cops arrested a 38-year-old man on Friday for allegedly using a stolen mobile phone SIM card to make an extortion call for Rs 50 lakh to a businessman.

The accused, Irfan Farooque, used the SIM from a Bengaluru electrician's phone which he had stolen last year. Farooque was arrested after the crime branch (Unit VIII) brought the Bengaluru man, one Tapas Naiti (23), to BKC and made him to lodge an FIR stating that he had been robbed of his mobile phone as well as Rs 11,000 cash on July 26, 2017, by two men. Naiti was in the city last year for an electric work contract in a construction project.

Farooque was arrested from BKC's Bharat Nagar slum on the basis of his call detail record. Crime branch officials subsequently tracked down the Bengaluru man.

During their probe, they learned that Farooque had got details of the businessman from a local. "We initially thought that the SIM belonged to Farooque's accomplice. We managed to track down Naiti who said he had no role to play in the crime and he was himself a victim as his mobile phone and Rs 11,000 were stolen last year by two persons but he did not file any case then. We brought him to Mumbai on Friday. Farooque used the stolen SIM this year to make an extortion call," said an officer of the BKC police station.

Naiti did not lodge any police complaint either in Mumbai or Bengaluru after he was robbed. In his complaint, Naiti said, "I did not block the SIM that was stolen last year. After reaching Bengaluru I just got myself a new SIM. I and a colleague of mine were in an autorickshaw on our way to Kurla station to return to Bengaluru when two men stopped the vehicle and robbed me at BKC. But since I did not want to miss the train, I did not lodge a complaint."

BKC police have booked Farooque under IPC sections for theft and extortion and are looking for his accomplice. He has been sent to police custody till July 19.