BHUBANESWAR: In a major breakthrough in the SIM bank racket, the special squad of Commissionerate Police on Tuesday seized five more SIM boxes from a locality at Ranchi in Jharkhand.
Basing on the information accused Raju Mondal (30) had revealed, the special squad with the help of Ranchi Police conducted raid at the house rented by one Haji Sohel Malik at lane no 15 of Maulana Azad Colony in Ranchi and recovered five SIM boxes along with 219 active SIM cards, 50 inactive SIMs, an inverter battery, a modem and two routers along with other incriminating materials.
CID, Special Branch and Cyber cell of Jharkhand Police along with officers of Namkum and Lower Bazar police stations in Ranchi also took part in the crackdown and interrogated Mondal. Police said Mondal had taken the house at Rs 7,500 rent per month and set up the SIM boxes months ago. He used to visit the place once a week to maintain electricity, internet and replace the inactive SIM cards.
Azadur Zamaan, a Bangladeshi national with whom Mondal had developed friendship during his visit to the neighbouring country, helped him get the SIM boxes delivered to West Bengal. Mondal then took the SIM boxes to Ranchi from West Bengal via train and installed the devices in the rented accommodation there, as per the instruction of Zamaan.
According to police, Zamaan had also supplied the SIM cards to Mondal and the duo used code words for their delivery.
Mondal, a native of West Bengal’s North 24-Parganas district, was arrested by the Commissionerate Police in connection with the SIM bank racket on August 17. Police earlier seized seven SIM boxes from his rented accommodation in Bhubaneswar and five from a house he had taken on rent in Cuttack. Further investigation into the matter is in progress, police said.