Police bust fake call centre near Kolkata, seize Rs 4 cr cash
Darpan News Desk IANS, 08 Mar, 2023 02:27 PM
Kolkata, March 8 (IANS) Following a surprise raid by the officers of the Bidhannagar Police Commiserate on Wednesday evening, unaccounted cash worth around Rs 4 crore was seized from a fake call centre in the Rajarhat-Newtown area on the outskirts of Kolkata.
A police officer said that the exact amount seized was a little over Rs 3.82 crore.
"Apart from the cash, gold and silver jewellery in substantial quantities as well as several high-end premium brand wrist watches were also recovered from the fake call centre. The valuation of the seized items is yet to be done," the officer said.
Apart from that, four high-end premium vehicles were also seized from outside the call centre.
The police have arrested six persons in this connection, out of whom two are residents of Liluah in Howrah district, two are from Maharashtra and one from Gujarat. The police suspect that besides running the fake call centre, the arrested persons were also involved in illegal hawala transactions.
The officer said that through this call centre, these persons mainly targeted elderly citizens in different parts of the globe.
"We suspect that the arrested persons are part of an international forgery racket. We will interrogate them to collect information on their partners and masterminds in this illegal trade," the officer said.
Mann said in another significant decision, the state government has now decided to appoint Chief Minister Field Officers as Nodal Officers for NRIs to ensure redressal of their grievances. He said that these officers will prove to be an ideal Nodal Officer for NRIs as they will be effectively able to coordinate across departments and districts, besides having a direct communication with the Chief Minister's Office.
The passengers were later identified as Moshin Khan Saifi and Asim. Saifi was supposed to travel from Delhi to Hyderabad by Vistara Flight, whereas Asim was supposed to travel from Delhi to Dubai by Air India Express flight.
The official said that at about 4 pm, CISF staff at Terminal-3 noticed suspicious activities of a passenger in the check-in area. The passenger was later identified as Misam Raza, who was about to fly to Dubai on a SpiceJet flight. Raza was then diverted to the random checking point for a thorough checking of his luggage.
The arrested accused have been identified as Vikas Bhadana, Paras Sood, Thachang Tungshanao, Avinash, Ram Basua and Abhislash Singh, the call centre manager. While the call centre and house owner has been identified as Sachin Taneja.
A SAD delegation led by its president Sukhbir Singh Badal met Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and handed over a memorandum stating that the Chief Minister and the Excise Minister have violated the provisions of the Official Secrets Act by making official files of the state available to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and MP Raghav Chadha, besides private persons.
The location of another plotter, Anmol Bishnoi, has also been traced to Kenya. The Bishnois had fled India before the daylight killing of Moosewala on May 29 in the Moosa village in Mansa district. It is believed that Sachin, a nephew of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, and Brar hatched the conspiracy to kill the famed Punjabi singer.