Home Minister R R Patil told the Legislative Assembly during the question hour that there was a need for effective monitoring of the sale and purchase of SIM cards.
"Availability of bogus SIM cards in the market needs to be curbed and drastic steps are required in view of the national security," he added.
While replying to a supplementary by BJP legislator Devendra Phadanvis on having a mechanism on lines of the Know Your Customer (KYC) introduced by banks to stop frauds, Patil admitted that it has been noticed that SIM cards are purchased by providing bogus documents and the cellular companies do not effectively verify them.
He warned the companies of strict action if the central government rules of properly verifying the documents were not followed.
To a question on what anti-national activities have come to the notice of the government, Patil said it has been found that the accused in bomb blast cases used SIM cards obtained by providing bogus documents.
In reply to the main question by Shishir Shinde (MNS), Patil said the Mumbai crime branch had cracked a case in which bogus SIM cards were used for anti-national activities.
He said three persons had been arrested in that connection. PTI MR NP
