Kolkata: Cops of Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station busted a fake call centre and arrested 13 persons from Kaikhali and BBD Bag area on Thursday afternoon.
The accused persons were produced at the Bidhannagar ACJM Court on Friday and four of them were remanded to police custody for 12 days. The other nine accused persons have been remanded to judicial custody.
According to sources, on April 4, a resident of Kaikhali area identified as Dharmadeb Mondal lodged a complaint at the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station against 12 people from whom he used to get phone calls for mobile tower installation proposals. Mondal told the cops that he was lured into a trap by offering lucrative return if he installs a mobile phone’s network tower on his vacant land.
The accused persons even sent him a few documents of some government departments which were forged. After getting convinced, Mondal paid about Rs 2.60 crore on various heads as demanded by the accused persons. When the accused persons demanded more money, Mondal realised that he had been cheated and lodged the complaint.
During investigation, cops tracked down a youth identified as Nirupam Mukherjee of Bhatenda and nabbed him on Thursday.
After interrogating him, cops conducted a raid at an office premises at the Standard Chartered building in the Fairly Place area and found that a full fledged call centre was being operated to dupe people. From the said call centre 12 more youths, including a few women, were also arrested.
Police sources informed that Mukherjee had a previous history of cyber crime. However, cops suspect that the mastermind of the racket is someone else. The arrested persons in police custody are being grilled to find out the mastermind.