SIM card fraud case in Odisha: Crime Branch arrests another accused person

Bhubaneswar: The Crime Branch of Odisha Police arrested one Gyana Ranjan Sahoo of Begunia for his involvement in the SIM card fraud case.

The accused, who has been already forwarded to the court, was supplying Vodafone pre-activated SIMs in bulk to Dusmant Sahoo, the mastermind of the crime who has been already arrested.

It is to be noted here that the Crime Branch had on May 1 busted the pre-activated SIM card racket and arrested the prime accused, Dusmant Sahoo and his two associates Sai Prakash Das and Avinash Nayak. A telecom company’s distributor Amitabh Sahoo of Motangaon in Dhenkanal district and retailer Dalagobinda Parida of Kamakhyanagar were also arrested for their role in the crime.

Dushmanta Sahu used to procure pre-activated SIM cards from Amitabh and Dalagobinda at high prices and sell them to cybercriminals, who use to do cybercrime by using those SIM cards. They even had created fake WhatsApp accounts of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla by using those numbers and had requested money from some MPs and other people.

Cops had seized more than 19600 pre-activated SIM cards, 48 mobile phones, laptop, xerox copies of several photo identity cards and other documents from Dushmanta. Cash worth Rs 14 lakh was also seized from his possession.

Investigation into the matter by the Crime Branch is underway. A case under section 419/420/467/468/471/120-B/34 IPC r/w Sec. 66-C/66-D of Information Technology Act, 2000 has been filed by the Crime Branch.