Srinagar: The Counter-Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) wing of J&K Police on Thursday filed a chargesheet against a militant associate, an Airtel vendor, for allegedly issuing a SIM card that was later used by a terrorist for communication and coordination of terror activities.
Police said the chargesheet was produced against Mudasir Ahmad Sheikh of Hanand Chawalgam, Kulgam, and vendor of the Airtel company, before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Kulgam under sections 420, 468, 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
He has been charged with providing a SIM Card Connection against a non-existent person which was actually used by a terrorist.
They said Police Station CIK had received an information through reliable sources that the procurement of SIM card connections from various Telecom Service Providers by terrorists/members of proscribed organisations / Over Ground Workers (OGWs), is made in a pre-planned criminal conspiracy, with the active connivance of their sympathizers and, in several instances, with the complicity of ‘Franchise/Point of Sale (POS)’ through fraudulent and dishonest means.
Accordingly, on October 9, 2020 a case under section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, read with section 420, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Police Station CIK Srinagar for a thorough probe.
“During the course of investigation, it has revealed that the accused was a vendor of ‘Airtel Telecom Service’, running his shop at Kulgam. It was established that the accused had manipulated and forged a genuine electoral Identity Card and used the same to issue a SIM card against a non-existent person. The accused as a vendor had also mentioned fictitious and deficient particulars/details in the Customer Application Form (CAF) with an objective to issue the SIM card against a non-existent person and pass on the SIM card to a terrorist for his use,” police said.
The investigation established that the subscriber of the SIM card shown in the Customer Application Form was not found existing on ground and the SIM card had actually been issued to a terrorist, police said.
Police made an appeal to the general public especially youth of Kashmir valley to adhere to the advisories in this regard and take every precaution to ensure that their documents are not misused for obtaining SIM cards fraudulently.
“People are also advised not to share their SIM card with anyone,” police said. UNI
