Telcos face cheating FIR for 'deactivating' fancy number

A lawyer has got a cheating case registered against telecom majors Airtel and Idea for allegedly deactivating his pre-paid cell phone number with nearly Rs 10,000 worth talk time and wrongfully giving the number to a new subscriber.

Hauz Khas police have registered a penal case under section 420 against the telecom companies after the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, South, ordered a probe on the application of complainant lawyer Chetan Anand, a resident of South Extension.

The FIR registered on August 12 took note of Anand’s allegation that his fancy pre-paid phone number 98188 88888 conked out an year ago while there was still thousands of rupees worth value left in it.

The investigating officer told the court: “As per the gist of the complaint and the investigation conducted so far, a prima facie offence under section 420 of IPC is made out, hence a case may be registered and investigation handed over to undersigned.”

Anand said in his complaint to court that in April 2013, he got the mobile number converted into a pre-paid number and recharged it with Rs 10,000. The phone worked properly till December 2013 but stopped working from January 4, 2014.
“At one stage, Airtel officials told me that my number had been converted into an Idea phone number.  On checking, I found that Idea had registered the number in the name of Bhim Singh Nagar,” said Anand.

The lawyer’s complaint said both Airtel and Idea “colluded with each other and robbed the valuable mobile number form me illegally and arbitrarily”.

Valuable lost

“I approached Hauz Khas police with a complaint after feeling victimised, cheated and losing valuable assets through forgery and meticulously hatched conspiracy,” said Anand.

“The accused have put me in not only financial loss but also in great physical torture and mental trauma,” Anand said in his application before the CMM when police failed to register the FIR on his repeated requests. The complainant lawyer said that he had bought the fancy number post-paid in 2001 and used it till 2013.  In  April 2013, he got the mobile number converted into a pre-paid number.