Man illegally procures, sells Airtel’s CPE devices in Delhi, case registered

A senior police official said that a case under section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the IPC has been registered at the Crime Branch.

New Delhi: Delhi Police have registered an FIR following a complaint filed by Telecom company Bharti Airtel limited, wherein it accused a man of engaging in the illicit acquisition and resale of their customer premises equipment (CPE) devices.

These CPE devices serve as critical telecommunications and information technology equipment, typically deployed at customers’ locations to establish connectivity with the network. This equipment encompasses a range of essential devices, including routers, modems, set-top boxes and various other integral components. The company in the FIR, accessed by IANS, said that each router costs approximately Rs 2,500, and it suspects that the individual in question may have accumulated an inventory of around 500 such devices.

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“As a routine practice, we conducted an internal review of our CPE devices inventory and during such review, we came to know that the abovementioned person had been selling Airtel’s CPE devices (Modem & Routers) in an unauthorised manner in an open market at a substantially lower price,” read the FIR.

“The modus operandi was that a store is being run by said person who had kept Airtel’s CPE devices at two locations namely at Sultanpur and Saidulajab, from where he has been selling/dispatching the devices,” the FIR further stated.

“We further conducted discreet calls and enquired about the availability of these CPE devices, wherein accused Anoop admitted to procuring and selling CPE devices (old and new) with Airtel branding in an open market at a substantially lower price. We further came to know that he has been engaged in this illicit activity for the past several months, and he had made a significant amount of money from the proceeds of the sale of these CPE devices,” read the FIR.

“He even told us that he does not have any fear of law and the statutory authorities, as he had been doing this for the past several months and had not been caught until now,” the FIR added.

A senior police official said that a case under section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the IPC has been registered at the Crime Branch.