By IANS,
Lucknow : A man has been arrested for allegedly supplying forged voter ID cards to nearly 1,500 people in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur town to enable them to obtain pre-paid mobile phone SIM cards, police said Saturday.
Sanjiv Barnwal, who owns a printing press in Gorakhpur, about 350 km from here, was held Friday. He was also a marketing franchisee of state-run telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and used to help his customers get SIM cards, Senior Superintendent of Police Piyush Mordia told IANS over phone.
“Barnwal used to scan photographs of people approaching him for an ID proof and provide them with printouts of a forged voter ID card. He also used to help his customers get pre-paid SIM cards without completing the verification formalities,” he said.
A computer was also seized from Barnwal’s printing press. “After scanning the hard disk, we came to know that he has facilitated the activation of nearly 1,500 pre-paid SIM cards,” Mordia said.
The police have written to BSNL “for a clarification as to how such a large number of SIM cards were activated and issued without proper verification”, the official said.
“We are also trying to find out the lapses in the entire process and once we gather substantial evidence, legal action will be initiated against all those involved,” Mordia added.