SIM cards used in Raichur IEDs traced to Bengaluru

A case of explosives found in a KSRTC bus on the outskirts of Raichur in 2016, has brought the investigations to the city.

Two low-intensity improvised explosive devices (IED) and two SIM cards connected to it were recovered from a KSRTC bus on the outskirts of Raichur in December 2016.

The investigations have now concluded that the SIM cards were activated using fake documents and impersonation facilitated by a mobile phone shop in city's Cottonpet area.

The police had earlier arrested three people from the mobile shop identified as Raju Gangadhar (29), Mohan Nagraj (25) and Arif Pasha (45).

The case was recently transferred from Raichur to Upparpet police station as the investigating officers were convinced that the trio had no role in the terror plot of the incident. However, they had sold the pre-activated SIM cards using fake documents.

The case of forgery was thus registered against the three at the Upparpet police station on February 28, 2018. "The trio has been slapped with charges for furnishing fake documents, impersonation and cheating," said G Harish DySP, Raichur.

During the course of investigations, the police had picked up several people based on the documents attached to the SIM cards. However, when the suspects were questioned by police, they were shocked to find their documents used without their knowledge for various phone numbers. They were not even aware that such a phone number existed on their name, the police said.

The police thus zeroed in on the trio from the mobile phone shop. Gangadhar, a resident of Bapuji Nagar worked for a mobile phone service provider as a sales executive and sold demo SIM cards to people with fake and fabricated documents. He along with his associates Nagaraj of Maddur and Pasha of Thanisandra, even got SIM cards activated after impersonation and sold them to students and labourers near the city railway station for Rs 200 per SIM card. They had sold numerous SIM cards this way, the police said.

The case

The Raichur police on December 30, 2016, had seized two IEDs from two unclaimed bags from a KSRTC bus that they intercepted for checking. Just after the currency demonetisation in November 2016, the Raichur police were tipped off about possible smuggling of huge stash of the demonetised currencies in the KSRTC bus. The bus had started from Hyderabad and was near the Karnataka-Telangana border-18 km from Raichur-the police said. On checking, they found a bomb-like circuit inside unclaimed bags on the bus. A bomb detection and disposal squad were summoned who defused the explosives and retrieved the SIM cards used for detonating them.