Patna: The CBI arrested a private telecommunications company’s district distributor for allegedly facilitating the illegal supply of sim cards later used in cyber-enabled frauds, including “digital arrest” cases. The agency searched 10 locations in Bihar’s Vaishali district and Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district on Saturday.The arrested accused, Pankaj Kumar (36), a resident of Mirzanagar under Mahua police station area, was the district distributor of the company. The raid at his residence began around midnight and continued till 5am.The searches were part of an investigation into an illegal sim Box network first detected in Supaul district. The CBI said mobile phones, laptops, sim cards and other incriminating material were recovered.The investigation found more than 1,300 sim cards being used in the suspected operation. Data linked to the numbers indicated their possible connection with at least 73 cybercrime cases across the country, including frauds carried out under the guise of “digital arrest”.More than 700 of the sim cards had been issued in Bihar and Odisha. A substantial number were allegedly obtained through the Vaishali distributor, who misused the credentials of more than a dozen points of sale (POS) to fraudulently issue sim cards.Several subscribers whose details were used told investigators they had no knowledge that numbers had been issued in their names. The CBI suspected fraudsters either deceived people into completing e-KYC formalities by claiming multiple sim cards were needed for genuine purposes, or misused biometric information collected during earlier transactions.The CBI said the investigation was transferred to it by the Bihar govt. The case involves allegations of cheating, forgery and extortion under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, identity theft and computer-related offences under the Information Technology Act, and offences under the Telecommunications Act, 2022.
