The accused, identified as Vivek Sabharwal, was arrested late Sunday night in Delhi and brought to Mumbai
The Bandra police have arrested a 48-year-old man for allegedly attempting to fraudulently get a mobile number belonging to the late Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique transferred to his name. His elaborate cheating scheme featured procuring data of mobile numbers that were unused for a few months and then using fake email IDs and forged documents to gain control of bank accounts linked to them, according to the police.
The accused, identified as Vivek Sabharwal, was arrested late Sunday night in Delhi and brought to Mumbai. A serial offender with at least six cheating and forgery cases registered against him, Sabharwal used to work at a private bank as a loan agent around a decade ago, before turning to the world of crime.
According to the police, Siddique’s wife, Shehzeen, filed a complaint on June 26 alleging that the family had received an email from a telecom company informing them that someone had initiated a request to transfer a mobile number belonging to the slain NCP leader to their name. This was done using a fake email ID and forged documents, said a police officer. In her complaint, Shehzeen also alleged that the accused intended to become an authorised signatory of a family firm, Zears Business India LLP, which was linked to the mobile number.
With help from the cyber police, the Bandra police identified the sender of the email as Sabharwal, a resident of Delhi. Late Sunday, the police raided his home in Delhi, apprehended him, and brought him to Mumbai.
Following his interrogation, the police uncovered his alleged modus operandi: Sabharwal used to procure data of mobile numbers that had not been used for a few months. After calling the numbers to ensure they were not in use, he would then approach the concerned telecom company, seeking to transfer the mobile number in his name by submitting forged KYC documents.
Sabharwal would then allegedly register the procured number on a payment gateway and get the details of bank accounts linked to it. He would then fraudulently transfer the money in those bank accounts to his own account, said a police officer.
Baba Siddique’s mobile number happened to be in one such lot of numbers that Sabharwal had procured. During his interrogation, he allegedly said he was not aware that the number belonged to Siddique, who was shot dead in October last year by three assailants in Bandra East.
Sabharwal then tried to get the slain leader’s mobile number transferred to his name by sending an email to a telecom company in Delhi using a fake email ID. However, Siddique’s family had already requested the service provider to keep the number active, as it was linked to some of their businesses, and not give it to anyone else.
So, when the service provider received a request to transfer the number to someone else’s name, an alert was sent to the family on their registered email ID, said a police officer from the Bandra police station. Sabharwal’s intention was to transfer the number to his name and use it in fraudulent activities, added the officer.
