Bangalore:
The fake sim card racket, unearthed on November 16, went into deeper muck as the city police found that the persons involved used election ID cards which they might have obtained from the workers of political parties during the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) election.
Police are now checking whether there are more such fake election identity cards which were used to secure more sim cards by subscribers.
"The racket is so huge that we are unable to comprehend the quantum of damage they have caused," said an officer.
Police say that party workers collected election cards for making proxy votes during the elections.
"We suspect that these election cards were used for distributing multiple Sims based on a single election card to more than 400 people. We are trying to find the original person who had submitted the ID card to get the sim card. But all the addresses seem to be fake as they lead to the slum areas of the city where no one resides."
Police also suspect that many such bogus ID cards were used to procure sim cards by anti-social elements, which can create a serious security lapse. Considering that political parties seek all possible ways to win an election, they might have issued fake election ID cards to people not residing in the city by giving false information to the election commission.
Those people then came to the city to vote and then left without the cards which were later used for the illegal sim card racket.
"Now, we are unable to trace the original election ID card holders as they do not live in the city.
We also questioned the seven accused who were arrested recently for issuing illegal sim cards to more than 400 persons based on a single ID proof, about the original ID card holder, though they were clueless too," an officer added.
He further added that some service providers started a separate wing to investigate such incidents if they found multiple numbers of sim distribution in a single photo ID proof.
This wing will also collect necessary information about their customers.
Police say that political parties might have issued fake voters id cards to non-residents of the city by giving false information to the election commission. the people left the cards after voting, which were then used by the racket.
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