10,000 Fake SIMs Used by a Muslim to Send Hate Texts? Nope.

The incident is old, and the police had found that these SIM cards were issued to a company and not an individual.

In a video doing the rounds on social media, a man can be seen claiming that the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) raided a house in Jharkhand and has found 10,000 fake SIM cards issued in the name of one Javed.

However, The Quint has found that the claim is misleading. The incident is from 2018, when the Jharkhand ATS seized 10,000 cards from two houses in Ranchi. But, contrary to the claim the SIMs were issued to a company called Excel and not its owner Javed Ahmed.

CLAIM

The video which is massively viral on Facebook and Twitter is being shared with a claim: “10000 हजार सिम card एक जावेद के नाम ये हजारों की fake id बनाकर फेसबुक और whatsaap Twitter पर जिहाद करते हैं दलित बनकर ब्राह्मण को गाली देते है और ब्राह्मण बनकर दलित को राजपूत बन कर यादव को गाली देते है।”

[Translation: 10000 fake sim cards recovered from one Javed. He has made thousands of fake IDs on Facebook and WhatsApp and Twitter. He pretends to be a Dalit and abuses a Brahmin, pretends to be a Brahmin to abuse a Dalit and pretends to be a Rajput to abuse a Yadav.]

WHAT WE FOUND

We searched for “1000 SIM cards seized by ATS in Jharkhand” on Google and found several news reports from 2018 which described the incident.

According to a report by The Telegraph dated 25 October 2018, the SIM cards in question were issued to a firm and not in the name of any individual.

According to the report, “Jharkhand police anti-terrorist squad (ATS) clarified that 10,000 SIMs were issued to the company, One Excel, and not owner Javed Ahmed individually.”

Further, we know that the incident being referred to in the viral is the same as the one mentioned in the Telegraph report because the image used in the report the same as the one which can be found at the 34-second counter in the viral video.

Quoting ATS superintendent of police P Murugan, the report by The Telegraph further mentioned that nothing suspicious had emerged about the company or its activities during the probe.

The Quint reached out to Jharkhand SP ATS, Anjani Anjan, who told us a detailed enquiry was conducted into the matter but no criminality was found. He further said that they purchased Airtel SIM cards as Excel is a telemarketing company.

Clearly, an old incident is being given a communal narrative without any alibi.

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