The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested an area sales manager of a telecom service provider for the alleged illegal sale of SIM cards that were later used in cybercrime activities. The arrest was made under Operation Chakra V on Thursday January 8 2026.
The agency identified the accused as “Binu Vidhyadharan, Vodafone Area Sales Manager, Delhi”.
In December 2025, the CBI uncovered an organised phishing network operating from areas around Delhi and Chandigarh. The network allegedly provided bulk SMS services to cybercriminals, including foreign actors who were targeting Indian citizens.
“The accused had procured around 21000 SIM cards in violation of Department of Telecom rules for facilitating transmission of bulk SMS, used by cybercriminals for sending phishing messages. Three persons, including a channel partner of the TSP, were arrested in December 2025 and are currently under judicial custody,” the agency said.
During further investigation, the alleged role of Vidhyadharan came to light. The CBI said he was involved in facilitating the bulk issuance of SIM cards through fraudulent means. He allegedly arranged dummy individuals and falsely projected them as employees of Lord Mahavira Services India Private Limited. Their documents were then used to complete the KYC process.
According to the agency, members of a family from Bengaluru were among those arranged and shown as employees of the company. Copies of their Aadhaar cards were recovered from the accused. The SIM cards obtained through these methods were allegedly used to run the phishing operations uncovered during the probe.
“Phishing is the first key step in most cyber frauds. It uses mass SMSes, calls, or messages to lure victims with false offers of loans, investments, or threats,” the agency said.
The investigation is ongoing.
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