Telangana Police arrest 7 from Siliguri call centres

They have been running dating services and friendship clubs using call centres as a front. It had all started with a complaint lodged by a person at the Cyberabad police station in the beginning of 2020. He had been cheated of lakhs of rupees.

Amitava Banerjee | MP | 9 November 2020 | Darjeeling: The arrest of seven persons from Siliguri by a police team from Telangana has brought to the fore cybercrimes being given shape in the mushrooming call centres in Siliguri. A 6-member team from the cybercrime unit of the Cyberabad police station with the aid of Siliguri metropolitan police arrested the seven.

The police team from Telangana has been camping in Siliguri. They have been conducting raids in Matigarah and Bhaktinagar areas from where they arrested the seven.

The seven arrested include Ajay Kumar Shaw, Jitendra Kumar Pundit, Bijay Shaw, Muhammad Noor Alam, Binod Shaw, Rakesh Kumar and Sajan Haldar. They were produced at a Siliguri court. Bijay Shaw, Muhammad Noor Alam and Binod Shaw have been taken to Cyberabad in transit remand. The others could be taken later.

With news of the raids and arrests many such illegal cyber facilities remained closed with the owners absconding. Police have already initiated a hunt for the absconding kingpins including a woman, (the names are not being published for the sake of investigation.)

'They have been running dating services and friendship clubs using call centres as a front. Using these, scams running into lakhs of rupees have been given shape,' stated Ravindra Reddy, Inspector, Cyber crime, Cyberabad police station. It had all started with a complaint lodged by a person at the Cyberabad police station in the beginning of 2020. He had been cheated of lakhs of rupees.

While investigating the case in Bangalore and Hyderabad, police found strong and vital links in Siliguri.

Dating services, friendship clubs are all being run with call centers as a front in Siliguri.