B’luru Techie Case: Suspect’s SIM Issued Through Aadhaar Fraud

Police have come up with a sketch of prime suspect based on descriptions provided by Jio vendor & SIM card agent.

The police have also come up with a sketch of the prime suspect based on descriptions provided by the Jio vendor and the SIM card agent.

(Photo courtesy: The News Minute)

From flying drones to checking second-hand car dealerships, the Bengaluru Police have been pursuing several avenues to look for 29-year-old missing techie Ajitabh Kumar, who went missing about two months ago. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has now stumbled across an Aadhaar-phone linking scam, which has created yet another challenge for the investigators.

Investigators have found that one of the phone numbers being investigated – presumed to be of the prime suspect in the case - had been linked to the Aadhaar card of another unrelated lady, without her knowledge. A cheating case has been registered at the Whitefield Police Station against Reliance Jio, a Jio SIM card vendor and SIM card agent from Kolar for allegedly using Aadhaar details of other persons to issue a SIM card to the unidentified prime suspect.

We have arrested the SIM card vendor Anand and also the Jio agent Shivu from Kolar. Reliance Jio has also been booked as they have not been careful about whom they are issuing SIM cards to.

Investigating officer

The police have also come up with the sketch of the person they believe is the prime suspect, based on the descriptions given by the SIM card agent and the vendor. The police are now trying to see if the sketch matches the profiles of anyone in the criminal database.

Investigating officers who have been looking at Ajitabh’s call records got in touch with Shabana, a lady from Kolar, as that was the only number from another district in Karnataka to have called Ajitabh’s phone.

Shabana is a 45-year-old beedi worker in Kolar’s Rahmath Nagar. On being questioned, Shabana told the police that she had bought an Aircel SIM card from Anand a few days ago. The SIM card has stopped functioning two weeks after she bought it, she told the police.

Shabana had given her Aadhaar card details to Anand as he had said that it was mandatory. When her SIM card stopped working, she went back to Anand and he is said to have asked for a copy of her Aadhaar card and Shabana furnished it. She says that she had no idea about Anand issuing a SIM card in her name to the prime suspect. Anand has issued fake SIM cards to many other people as well.

Investigating officer

Meanwhile, Reliance Jio has issued a statement stating that they will offer their full support to the investigation.

Ajitabh, who worked for a British telecom company in Bengaluru, had left his apartment in Whitefield on 18 December 2017 to sell his Maruti CIAZ car. Ajitabh wanted to sell the car to fund his education at IIM-Kolkata. He was on his way to meet a buyer he had met on OLX.

When Ajitabh did not return home the next day, his roommates began looking for him. When they could not track him down, they registered a missing persons complaint. The police later filed an abduction case.

(This article has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)