Almost two months after software engineer Kumar Ajitabh, 29, went missing, the Whitefield police have filed a cheating case against a telecom company, one of its agents, and a vendor from Kolar, who issued a SIM card to the prime suspect allegedly using documents of someone else. The agent and the vendor have been arrested.
The police said the suspect, who remains unknown, was issued a Reliance Jio SIM card based on documents of a beedi worker from Kolar.
Following this, the police have filed cases against the company, the agent, Shivu, and the vendor Anand.
Ajitabh, who worked for a British telecom company, left his Whitefield apartment on December 18, 2017 to sell his car. He wanted to sell the car to fund his education at a premier management institution in Kolkata. He was reportedly on his way to meet the prospective buyer who had got in touch with him through an online buying and selling platform for old and used goods. His roommates, who realised he was missing, began to search for him the next day. After they failed to find him, they filed a missing complaint with the police on December 20.
High Court direction
The police intensified their search and formed four special teams to track down Ajitabh following a direction from the High Court of Karnataka. The special team of the Whitefield police, who were trying to track down the suspect based on mobile phone call detail records and the details furnished to get the SIM card, landed at the house of the beedi worker, Shabana, 45, at Rahmath Nagar in Kolar.
She told the police she had submitted her Aaadhar details to get a free Jio SIM card, which she discarded a few days later as it had become defunct. The police suspect her documents were used to give a SIM to the prime suspect, who used it to contact Ajitabh. Based on Shabana’s statement, the police registered the case on Saturday.
‘Only a number’
“The prime suspect is still a number. We booked a case against the company as well because they should exercise caution while issuing SIM cards,” said an officer.
A Reliance Jio statement said, “We exercise full diligence and comply with all the applicable regulations for issuing SIMs. We will extend full support as may be required by the investigation authorities.”
