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.
The victims, both from West Bengal, were rushed to the SMHS hospital in Srinagar, where the condition of one is stated to be critical while the other is stable.
A case in this connection was registered against Ranjit Gogoi, the then Director of Information and Public Relation, Assam, and different private companies, for alleged misappropriation of the state government's money. The ED had initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of CM's Vigilance Cell FIR lodged in 2017 against the accused.
The UK Prime Minister was given a ceremonial reception and a Guard of Honour at Rashtrapati Bhawan where he was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Talking to the media after the ceremonial welcome, Johnson said that relations with India were never so strong.
In a notification issued this evening, the Health Department said: "A fine of Rs 500 for not wearing of face mask and cover in all public places in Delhi will be imposed from immediate effect till further orders in compliance of notification dated February 26, 2022."
During his recent visit to South Africa and interaction with the members of the Indian community there, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra urged the community to register as overseas voters as the present numbers are abysmally low. He also shared with the members that extension of Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) facility to overseas voters is being contemplated.
Johnson started his visit to the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by visiting Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram where he spent nearly 30 minutes. He also tried his hand at spinning the 'Charkha'.
