Help needed with Airtel KYC issue

My father has an Airtel postpaid number he bought around 10–15 years ago in Bangalore. At the time, the Airtel agent entered his name incorrectly (wrong spelling and messed-up order of first/middle/last name). My father didn't bother getting it fixed.

Now Airtel is asking for KYC re-verification and it’s failing because the name on Aadhaar obviously doesn’t match.

We’re currently based in Pune. We went to the Airtel store here and got a bunch of contradictory answers:

• They say KYC must be fixed first
• Porting, delinking from family plan, or changing circle isn’t possible unless KYC is done
• Their “solution” is that my father should go to Bangalore Airtel office and get it fixed there

He has 10 days before the SIM gets barred.

This number is linked to everything — banking, UPI, visa documents, OTPs, literally years of stuff. Asking someone to travel cities because Airtel made a data-entry mistake ages ago is insane.

What’s worse is they won’t even let us port out or delink the number unless KYC is verified — which is impossible because the KYC is wrong in the first place.

Has anyone dealt with something similar?

• Is there a way to fix old Airtel KYC name issues remotely?
• Any escalation contacts or emails that actually work?
• Can Airtel really deactivate a number when the mistake was on their end?

Any help would be massively appreciated. This feels like being trapped in a loop with no exit.