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.
The Chief Minister said the government is fully sensitive towards checking cross-border infiltration in Punjab. He said Punjab Police is constantly in touch with the Border Security Force (BSF) and other agencies for this purpose.
While briefing the officers, the DGP said the topmost priority of the government, as directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to further strengthen the fight against drugs to make Punjab a drug-free state, besides eliminating the gangster culture, maintaining law and order, and detection of crime.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased, whereas Rs 15,000 as immediate relief for the injured. He said free treatment would be provided to the injured.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday carried out his first Cabinet expansion by inducting five legislators, including second-time MLA Aman Arora, into his council of ministers. The expansion came in less than four months of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping to victory in the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats of the 117 seats.
The police have so far managed to nab four of the accused, including one woman, who have been identified as Gurjant Singh (31), Navjot Singh (30), Satpal Singh (28) and Gurpreet Kaur (30).
The ambidextrous sharpshooter, identified as Ankit alias Chhota, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana, was most desperate to commit the crime."He fired simultaneously from two pistols in his two hands," H.G.S. Dhaliwal, Special Commissioner (Special Cell), said during a media briefing.