The accused, Mohammed Sultan, was arrested in March by the cyber police in Mumbai along with other individuals. According to investigators, Sultan allegedly misused his access to customer Aadhaar card details belonging to residents of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These details were reportedly used to generate customer acquisition forms in Mumbai to fraudulently obtain duplicate SIM cards using identical personal information.
Police alleged that Sultan activated two SIM cards for every legitimate customer request. While one SIM card was issued to the actual customer, the second was illegally created and sold to a co-accused for Rs 500 per card. Authorities claim that more than 100 such SIM cards were activated using forged address proofs.
Additional Sessions Judge B Y Phad, while rejecting the bail plea, noted that these SIM cards were traced to Southeast Asian roaming networks and were directly linked to cyber fraud complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. The court also referred to an alleged digital payment trail showing that Sultan received approximately Rs 90,000 from a co-accused in connection with the illegal activity.
In his bail application, Sultan argued that the investigation was largely documentary in nature and had been completed, with no further recovery required from him. He maintained that his role was limited to technical irregularities in SIM card access and denied involvement in the execution of cyber fraud.
However, the prosecution opposed the plea, stating that the investigation into the broader criminal syndicate is ongoing. Police further informed the court that the trail of the fraudulently activated SIM cards had extended to Kerala, suggesting wider operational links of the network.
Rejecting the plea, the court observed that the case involves an organised crime operation with significant implications for public financial security. It emphasised that the investigation is at a critical stage, particularly in uncovering the connection between the activated SIM cards and downstream criminal activities in Kerala and Southeast Asia.
The court concluded that, given the seriousness of the allegations and the ongoing probe into the larger syndicate, the accused is not entitled to bail at this stage. The case underscores the growing threat of telecom-based identity misuse in facilitating cross-border cybercrime operations.
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