Anti Rowdy Squad arrests 16 from Baguiati for duping many on pretext of lucky draw

The Anti Rowdy Squad (ARS) of the Kolkata Police arrested 16 persons from Baguiati area for duping people of lakhs of rupees with false assurances that they had won lucky draws and for claiming which, they have to submit processing fees.

Police said that the accused used to get the customers' data from a televised marketing company and used to call the customers saying that they have won a lucky draw of a few lakh rupees and they have to pay some money as processing fees to claim the money.

Police came to know that the accused used to tell the customers to provide their email IDs and other necessary details to claim the cash that they had won through a lucky draw. They also convinced the customers as they knew some of the personal details of the customers. When the customers would be impressed by the accused tele-callers, they used to demand money from the customers. It was learnt that many of the customers have been duped of around Rs 1.5-2 lakh which was asked as processing fees to claim the money of around Rs 8-12 lakh that they had won through lucky draw.

Among the 16 persons arrested from Baguiati and its adjoining areas in this connection, five were originally from Bengal, four from Bihar, three each from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka while one was from Odisha. Police have recovered many mobile phones, laptops, SIM cards and ATM cards from the accused.

The accused rented a house of local doctor in Baguiati and used to run their illegal business from there. After coming to know about the racket, police conducted a raid in the house and arrested 13 persons while the other three were arrested from nearby areas after interrogating the accused.

In the course of investigation, police came to know that the kingpin who masterminded the whole thing is at large. Police were also interrogating the senior officials of the televised marketing company from where the details of the customers were leaked, police suspect. Police were also investigating if the accused had any links with any of the bank officials.

The accused were remanded to police custody till April 21 after being produced in a court. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Vishal Garg said that investigation is on to arrest the kingpin.