New Delhi, Nov 9 (IANS) Delhi Police have busted a fake call centre in Delhi's Uttam Nagar which scammed more than 1700 people on the pretext of providing them loans and arrested 12 people in this connection, an official said on Wednesday.
Police said that the fake call centre was disguised as a medicine supply store.
According to M Harsha Vardhan, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka), specific inputs were received regarding an illegal call centre being run at Uttam Nagar and that it is cheating people on the pretext of providing a loan.
"The call centre was being run by Faisal, a resident of Sanjay Nagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh and his team. On inquiry, Faisal misled the police team by saying that he is running the call centre for selling and advertising the medicines," said the DCP.
"He had even kept some medicines on the counter to mislead police. However, on sustained interrogation, it was revealed that all the employees were working as customer support agents and they used to call the customers for offering loans," said the official.
"They then used to provide the bank account details and ask the customers to deposit a processing fee amount in that bank account," said the official.
"One Paras, a resident of Sanjay Nagar in Ghaziabad had taken the place on which call centre was operating on lease. He is absconding in this case. Efforts are being made to nab him," said the DCP.
"Apart from Paras, three other persons are also involved in this fraud syndicate who used to provide backend services like bank accounts for collecting the money and fraud SIM cards, advertising or sending bulk SMS regarding loan on mobile numbers. Their details are being ascertained in this case and efforts are being made to nab these accused persons," said the DCP.
"The call centre has been running since February 2022. As per the scrutiny of the registers and further interrogation, it has come to light that the accused had cheated more than 1700 innocent people," said the DCP.
"Total 29 registers containing a list of contacted persons depicting money and amount transactions were recovered. The amount cheated from these persons is likely to exceed Rs 1 crore," said the official.
"A total of 12 persons, including six women, were working in the call centre and were nabbed by a police team on the spot," said the official.
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The Fourth Additional District and Session's Court Judge B.R. Pallavi has convicted Adithya Rao (37), the accused in the case. He was found guilty under Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act 1908 and Section 16 of the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act 1967. He has also been fined Rs 10,000.
The first of the session commenced with Pro-tem Speaker Inderbir Singh Nijjar administering the oath of office and secrecy to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as Member of the Vidhan Sabha. Breaking the convention, all women members were administered oath after the Chief Minister.
The ruling BJP and opposition Congress, meanwhile, locked horns in the assembly over the bandh. The BJP sought action against those who are going against court verdict and the Congress maintained that they have the right to protest.
The plea sought a direction to the SEC to conduct the municipal elections in Delhi, according to the initially conceived schedule, before the expiry of the tenure of the Municipal Corporations of Delhi, in May 2022, in a free and fair manner. The petition contended that the SEC, on March 9, issued a press note for holding the polls in April.
