Agency (Dwarka, Gujarat):
In a significant crackdown on cyber crimes, the police in Gujarat’s Devbhumi Dwarka district arrested six persons for their alleged involvement in various illegal activities, including sextortion and selling SIM cards to online fraudsters. Assistant Superintendent of Police, Raghav Jain, led the operation, which unveiled a network spanning Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The arrested individuals were identified as Hasan Shaikh, Altaf Shaikh, and Aarif Mirza, all Vadodara-based SIM card retailers, along with Gopal Gurjar, Dalwirsingh Beniwal, and Azru Mohammad Mev, all residents of Rajasthan. This group’s activities were discovered during investigations into cyber fraud cases registered in the district, where it was found that the mobile SIM cards used by the fraudsters were initially registered in Vadodara but later operated from Rajasthan.
The Vadodara trio, who were friends and SIM card retailers, reportedly came into contact with Dhansingh Gurjar, who bought pre-activated SIM cards from them. They fraudulently activated these SIM cards using customers’ biometric fingerprints without their knowledge. In total, nearly 600 SIM cards were supplied to Dhansingh Gurjar and his father Gopal Gurjar.
Gopal Gurjar was apprehended during a police raid at his residence in Rajasthan’s Ghoghar village, while Dhansingh remains at large. Gopal confessed to selling these SIM cards to various fraudsters.
Beniwal, holding an MTech degree, was arrested for duping a businessman through a fraudulent Facebook advertisement. He asked the businessman to transfer Rs 30,000 online for wedding decoration items and ceased communication after receiving the money.
The sixth accused, Azru Mev, was arrested in Rajasthan’s Deeg district for a sextortion scheme. He extorted Rs 89,000 from a man by recording a fabricated video call and blackmailing him. The police recovered six mobile phones and 28 pre-activated SIM cards from Mev’s possession.
