Three BSNl employees of Baleswar SDO office, including an engineer, were arrested by the Rourkela police on the charge of issuing a duplicate SIM to a fake person, who, by virtue of that SIM, took Rs 11.69 lakh from the bank account of a businessman.
However, the prime accused is still absconding.
Sourcces said Sambunath Chanduka of the Basanti Colony area owns the Hindustan Trading Company. But his son Sumit Chanduka manages affairs of the company on his behalf.The company has an account in the Indian Bank, Daily Market branch. Sumit does online transactions normally.
His BSNl phone SIM, which is registered with the Indian Bank account, had reportedly gone invalid on July 11, 2017 for some unknown reasons. On July 12, he went to local BSNl office and applied for a duplicate SIM.
After his SIM was activated, Sumit came to know that about Rs 11.69 lakh debited from his accounts through online shopping in as many as eleven transactions. He then lodged an FIR in the Uditnagar police station. During investigation, police came to know that all the transactions were done during the period when Sumit’s SIM was inactive. Police came to know that a duplicate SIM against same number was issued on July 11 evening at Baleswar BSNl office.
A team of Rourkela police visited Baleswar and came to know a person claiming as Sumit Chanduka had taken the duplicate SIM by submitting an affidavit. Then, they arrested three BSNl staffs identified as Sasidhar Barik (SDO), HR Mishra and Rupen Panigrahi, both data entry operators, informed.
“Three BSNl officials have been arrested. The prime accused is still at large. We are trying to know if the BSNl officials have any link with the prime accused,” said SP Uma Shankar Das.