Ranchi: In a joint operation, Ranchi police and their Bhubaneshwar counterparts recovered five more SIM boxes from a house here on Tuesday. The recovery is part of an ongoing probe in which Bhubaneswar police busted a SIM box racket in in the neighbouring state a few days back. A total of 17 SIM boxes, including the ones seized from Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, have been found, so far.
In Ranchi, the joint team raided the house, which belongs to Haji Sohail Ansari, at Maulana Azad Colony under Namkum police station limits. Ansari had rented it to Raju Mandal, an accused in the SIM card racket . Mandal accompanied Bhubaneswar police to Ranchi.
“Mandal had taken the house on rent last May but never stayed. He left after setting up the SIM cards,” Namkum officer in-charge Brahmadeo Prasad said. Police commissioner of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, Sanjeeb Panda said, “Apart from the five SIM boxes, 219 active SIM cards and 40 inactive ones were also found.
As in the previous two places (Bhubaneswar and Cuttack), inverter, battery, modem and routers were also found. Officers from Namkum and Lower Bazaar police stations were involved. After thorough search and further interrogation of Mandal, our team will return to Bhubaneswar,” Police said they are interrogating the staff and the owner of a hotel where Bangladesh national Asadur Zaman, the alleged mastermind of the racket, had stayed in Bhubaneswar.
Investigation revealed Zaman had stayed in India for two months but it is not know.