After Kolkata police arrested two people for fraudulently procuring pre-paid SIM cards, the police are in constant touch with various service providers of the city to discuss means and measures by which such instances can be checked. The two people who were arrested are Mukhtar Ahmed Sheikh and Tausif Rehman.“We are holding meetings with the service providers to devise a mechanism by which there can be a double check on the people who come to get a pre-paid connection,” said DC (Detective Department) Jawed Shamim. In the process, various suggestions have come up from both the Kolkata police and the service providers. “The system that dominates the pre-paid SIM connection is such that the onus is on the retailer. He checks the documents and informs the service provider that the connection can be activated,” said a senior police official. The Kolkata police are now looking at a possibility by which it can be made mandatory for all customers to submit attested copies of the required documents. “We are also looking at a system by which people of a certain area should procure the SIMs from retailers of that area only,” said Shamim. Every time a retailer gives out a SIM card, the voters ID card number is not verified. Suggestions have been made to link the database of the motor vehicles department and the Election Commission so that verifications can be done at the click of a button to see if the voter ID or the driving licence actually exists. Currently, service providers activate the connection and ask the customers to submit the papers within 48 hours. Now, Kolkata police are suggesting service providers to ensure a system by which no connection will be activated unless the papers are in place. “All service providers have good softwares and database by which they track defaulters. The same software can be used to track the activities of customers who take a number of connections in the same name or do not use the SIM for a long time after activating it and so on,” said the deputy commissioner.
