17 FIRs in a day: Fake IDs with same photo used to get SIMs

Ludhiana: The Ludhiana police is dealing with the one-of-its-kind case that has left the top city cops puzzled not only about the modus operandi of the accused, but also their intentions.
Bizarre it may sound, the police, just in the last three days, have come across multiple cases wherein mobile SIM cards were issued against fake IDs, which bear different names, but photograph of a single individual.
What has made the investigation an uphill task is the fact that all one-and-a-half dozen mobile phone shop owners — who have issued SIM cards against such IDs at various points of time — are yet untraceable. Whereas some of them have shut their shops, others have shifted their operations to some other locations.
Now, alerted by the officials of the telecom companies, the Ludhiana police, in one go, have lodged at least 17 FIRs against shopkeepers for issuing SIM cards of different telecommunication companies, to various people with forged identity proofs.
The police suspect that the accused could have issued SIM cards to miscreants and criminals. Sources said FIRs have been lodged under a special drive, after instructions from the police headquarter.
The matter had come to light three days ago when the officials of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) had got the FIR registered against an individual, who managed to procure eight SIM cards using similar such fake IDs.
Deputy commissioner of police (Investigation) Harmeet Singh Hundal said, “We had received directions from the senior officials after which the FIRs have been lodged. 17 FIRs have been lodged while proceeding to register 7 more cases is underway.”
“The information was that some of the shopkeepers have issued SIM cards of various telecommunication companies like BSNL, Airtel, Vi and Jio, on forged identification proofs. The respective companies identified these shopkeepers and lodged complaints with the police” he added.
Further, DCP Hundal said in some of the cases, the shopkeepers who issued these SIM cards, have shut their shops and changed their addresses. The respective companies have been asked to share details of the shopkeepers.
The division number 4 police booked owner of Aman Telecom at Trunk Bazar, while Sahnewal police station booked owner of Azad telecom of Azad Nagar of Giaspura, owner of MS Harleen telecom at Dehlon Road, owner of Deep TV Centre at Makkar Colony of Giaspura, owner of Karan Telecom at Makkar Colony of Giaspura, owner of Chitra Telecom at Kanganwal and owner of Pal telecom of Kanganwal.
Further, division number 6 police have registered a case against Amarjeet Singh owner of Novel Telecom Miller Ganj, Santosh of Hargobind Nagar and owner of Harpal Telecom of Daba Market road.
Shimlapuri police booked the owner of Raj Telecom at New Janta Nagar, owner of Jaspreet Telecom new Janta Nagar and owner of Sonu Telecom at Barota road.
Model Town police lodged an FIR against the owner of Mobile Gallery at Dr Ambedkar Nagar, Tibba Police booked the owner of Prachi Telecom at Gopal Nagar, Division number 5 police booked owner of Sehaj Mobile at Sham Nagar and Sarabha Nagar Police booked Ramanjit Singh of Village Barewal.
All FIRs have been lodged under Sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (punishment for cheating), 465 (punishment for forgery), 466 (forgery of record of court or of public register etc), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
DCP (investigation) Harmeet Singh Hundal said, “Usually, it is seen that criminals and anti-social elements use forged documents to get SIM cards, which they further use for various crimes. This is one-of-its-kinds case for the police where a photo of single individual has been used in many ID proofs. An organised gang seems to be behind this. Further probe is on to trace the accused who are involved in it.”