Overview

• CBI detained Airtel territorial sales manager Debashish Doley in Silchar along with middlemen Mahim Uddin Barbhuiya and Ashim Purkayastha after coordinated searches in Cachar district.
• Investigators allege collusion among a telecom manager, distributors and PoS agents to issue SIM cards without customers' knowledge and sell them in bulk at inflated prices.
• The SIMs were allegedly used in digital arrest schemes, impersonation and fake advertisements, as well as investment and UPI-related frauds.
• Searches at five locations led to the seizure of mobile phones, electronic devices and copies of KYC documents, which are undergoing forensic analysis.
• Local reporting cites DoT and I4C data linking about 1,100 SIMs from 39 PoS to roughly 2,200 complaints, while the CBI has secured transit remand and signaled further arrests may follow.