When customers returned, he took their finger prints and Aadhaar number once again on the pretext that previous prints were not good enough. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: A mobile shop owner was arrested by Amberpet police for fraudulently using a customer's Aadhaar card details to activate SIM cards for other persons.

The accused was identified as Mohammed Rahamatullah, alias Sajid Ullah, 36, owner of Yaseen Mobiles, whom the police booked for cheating and committing forgery by activating illegal SIM cards and giving to one Zahed for the purpose of illegal call routing.

The arrest was made based on a complaint from Prasad, a junior telecom officer, stating that one Rehmatulla had been activating SIMs of various service providers in association with persons running an illegal telephone exchange. They had been conducting international call routing through illegal setups, resulting revenue loss to the TSP and the central government and a threat to national security, the complainat said.

Rahamatullah used to inform customers who bought SIM cards to come later to collect the activated SIM cards.

When customers returned, he took their finger prints and Aadhaar number once again on the pretext that previous prints were not good enough. Those SIMs were sold to Zahed and Ashraf, alias Doctor Saab, for large sums.

He sold about 300-400 illegal pre-activated SIMs, said Malakpet division ACP K.Narsing Rao. The accused was produced in court for judicial remand. Efforts were on to arrest the absconding accused Zaheed and Ashraf.