GURUGRAM: The investigation into a Rs 1.4-crore fraud executed in the city by a former loan agent with a nationalised bank has turned the spotlight on alleged irregularities in the issuance of 500 SIM cards of a leading telecom company that were used by the accused.
Bank officials are already facing a probe for the alleged leak of customer data.
Praveen Mittal, the mastermind, allegedly cheated a farmer in the city of the amount in 2019. Mittal managed to get the mobile number linked to the farmer’s bank account changed.
Apart from the former loan agent, six of Mittal’s accomplices who allegedly supplied SIM cards to him without the required documents have been arrested so far. An FIR, the second in the case, was filed under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 471 (using forged documents) of the IPC at Sector 37 police station on Saturday. In June 2019, an FIR had been lodged at the same police station after the fraud came to light.
Saturday’s FIR states that the six men allegedly procured 500 SIM cards illegally in connivance with Airtel officials and other individuals in violation of norms laid down by the department of telecommunications and sold them to various people. Police are expected to name more people in the FIR as the investigation progresses. One of the SIM cards was used by Mittal to cheat the farmer.
Apart from some Airtel officials, police are also investigating the role of Dinesh Sharma, who allegedly prepared fake papers of a recruitment company in Gurgaon and helped the racket procure the SIM cards. “The SIM cards could have been used for anti-national activities,” said a police officer.
An Airtel spokesperson told TOI that they were cooperating with the police. “As a law-abiding corporate, we have extended full cooperation to the authorities and will continue to assist them. Since the matter is subjudice, we are unable to comment further,” the spokesperson said.
The second FIR comes after the Punjab and Haryana high court ordered Gurgaon police to file a separate case to investigate how many SIM cards have been fraudulently issued.
The matter was raised in a hearing on August 16 in which bank officials under probe for their roles in the fraud had sought anticipatory bail from the high court.
“We found that the accused illegally procured around 500 SIM cards. The details of the investigation were presented before the high court in the hearing,” said ACP (DLF) Karan Goel, head of the special investigation team constituted to investigate the case.
