Overview
- Under Operation Chakra‑V, the CBI detained Vodafone area sales manager Binu Vidhyadharan for allegedly arranging dummy hires and forged KYC to enable bulk SIM activation tied to a phishing network.
- The probe found roughly 21,000 SIM cards were obtained in violation of DoT rules, with Aadhaar copies of front individuals seized and three earlier suspects already in judicial custody.
- Following the arrest, the CBI widened its inquiry to telecom distribution in western Uttar Pradesh, placing officials and channel partners in Mathura and nearby districts under scrutiny.
- In a parallel action, Mumbai’s Crime Intelligence Unit with UP STF arrested Sihan Imtiyaq Shaikh for allegedly supplying over 10,000 forged‑document SIMs to syndicates in India and to operators in Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.
- Delhi Police reported separate arrests in a ₹96 lakh 'digital arrest' case that included two private bank employees, as additional cases and a Taiwan‑linked SIM‑box ring using about 20,000 SIMs underscored the ecosystem’s scale.