RANCHI: An illegal assembly unit for Jio and Samsung keypad mobile phones has been busted in Palamu district of Jharkhand. Police have arrested two people on charges of assembling new mobile phones from old and unusable parts and selling them in the local market.
The arrested persons have been identified as Vikalp Kumar Singh (30) of Khap-Sarauna village and Ranjit Kumar (24) of Panki Basti.
Palamu SP, Reshma Ramesan, informed that based on a tip-off, Panki police raided Vikalp Kumar Singh's residence. A complete mobile repair and assembly setup was found in a room on the first floor of the house, operating like a small factory.
Police have recovered 135 Jio and 200 Samsung keypad mobile phones from the spot, which were assembled taken out of used mobile phones collected from scrap dealers. In addition to that, a large quantity of old motherboards, mobile bodies, batteries, chargers, speakers, displays, tools and a large amount of e-waste were also seized.
During questioning, the accused revealed that they started this illegal business after coming across advertisements for the sale of motherboards on social media. The motherboards were procured from West Bengal for Rs 50 - 100 each. Bodies, boxes, chargers, and batteries were then purchased from shops in Medininagar to assemble the mobile phones.
According to police, the assembled mobile phones were sold to shopkeepers for approximately Rs 500, who further sold them to customers for up to Rs 1000.
The investigation also revealed that Ranjit Kumar provided the old mobile parts, while Vikalp Kumar Singh handled the assembly work. A large quantity of mobile parts was also recovered from Ranjit's house.
The seized mobile phones are being technically examined. The police are searching for other people involved in this case, and the companies concerned will also be informed.
An FIR has been registered in this regard at Panki Police Station under Sections 318(2)/318(4)/349/338/336(3)/3(5) BNS-2023, Sections 103/104 of the Trademarks Act, 1999 and Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986.