11 ‘linked’ to fake call centre case nabbed in Mohali, Delhi

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 3

The ongoing probe by the Ludhiana police in connection with the fake call centre scam has led to the arrest of 11 more persons. The arrests were made by multiple teams of the Cyber Cell and CIA-1 Ludhiana during raids in Mohali and New Delhi.

Of these, nine were apprehended from a rented apartment in Kharar (Mohali), all from Gujarat, and included four key suspects Pratik, Peenak, Dhruv Mehta and Jigar. They were also running a fake call centre from their premises. The police also recovered 11 laptops, an iPad, 18 mobile phones, a Toyota Fortuner car, Rs 1 lakh cash and gold ornaments.

Additional DCP (Crime) Rupinder Kaur Bhatti, who busted the scam, said a similar modus operandi was being used at the Mohali-based fake call centre as well, whereby the suspects, posing as tax/insurance authorities, used to call unsuspecting citizens in other countries and committed financial frauds.

The victims were asked to transfer money to bank accounts in their respective countries. The money was further transferred to India through hawala channels or cryptocurrency. Bitcoin wallets of the suspects were being confiscated and frozen.

The ADCP said raids were conducted in the Chattarpur area of New Delhi, from where suspect Vaibhav Gupta was apprehended. He was the technical backbone of the module, providing software, server, call dialler, calling minute, troubleshooting support, etc. to the Ludhiana-based module.

Gupta used to receive regular monthly payments for his services. “Since a majority of the payments by the suspects was made and received through hawala channels, raids were conducted in Ludhiana, leading to the arrest of Sachin Patel, hailing from Gujarat, from the Sham Nagar area and Rs 27 lakh in hawala money was recovered,” said ADCP Bhatti.

Investigations in the case suggested the accused had bought multiple flats in posh localities of Ahmedabad from the proceeds of crime.