Delhi Police busts fake call centre, arrests 5 members of family

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) The Delhi Police has busted a fake call centre allegedly run by a family to dupe innocent people by offering instant loans and insurance services, an official said on Tuesday.

Police have arrested kingpin Himanshu Kumar, his 62-year-old father, two brothers and a sister, he said.

"A Delhi resident was allegedly cheated of over Rs 36,000 on the pretext of being provided an online instant loan, which led the police to investigate the case," Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Raja Banthia said.

The officer said the racket was being operated by Himanshu, who ran the call centre with active involvement of his father Suresh Kumar, two brothers -- Mohit Kumar and Rohit Kumar and sister Madhu Rani.

The police said the complainant, Mohd Shoaib (31), submitted a complaint on September 3 through the NCRP (National Cybercrime Reporting Porta) stating that he was looking for a loan and had approached several banks.

On August 25, he received a call from an unknown number, where the caller introduced himself as a loan agent and sought documents along with Rs 2,750 as processing charges, according to the complaint.

The complainant was later informed that the loan had been sanctioned. However, he was told the next day that it fell under the "unsecured loan category", requiring Rs 11,800 for disbursal. Subsequently, another Rs 6,000 was demanded as stamp duty.

"The fraudsters kept calling him repeatedly and extracted a total of Rs 36,050 on various pretexts," the DCP said.

The amount was transferred through UPI to a bank account in the name of Himanshu. A team investigated the matter and an analysis of call detail records, IMEI data and money trail across bank accounts was carried out, Banthia said.

"Based on the analysis, an address in Sangam Vihar was identified. But during a raid on November 11, the premises was found locked and locals informed the police that the family had shifted nearly four years ago," he added.

The team continued technical surveillance and also used social media platforms to trace the accused, eventually zeroing in on another address in Sangam Vihar. During a raid there, Suresh Kumar (62) was found and questioned.

During sustained interrogation, Suresh Kumar disclosed that his son Himanshu was operating a call centre named 'Suraash Associates Private Limited' in A-Block in Sangam Vihar, where family members posed as insurance and instant loan providers. Later, Suresh Kumar was arrested.

"Raids were conducted at the call centre, from where eight mobile phones with SIM cards, two landline phones, 10 laptops, a Wi-Fi router, four cheque books, registers containing accounts of the operation and employee ID cards were recovered. However, Himanshu and other family members were initially found absconding," said the DCP.

The police said further investigation revealed that Himanshu had been engaged in loan and insurance-related work for several years and had set up the call centre in 2022, with his father and sister Madhu Rani as directors.

The call centre later shifted to Sangam Vihar and targeted unsuspecting victims to earn illegal profits. Himanshu allegedly acted as branch manager and was assisted by his brothers Mohit and Rohit, along with hired staff. He also paid Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per month to his father from the proceeds of the illegal operation, the police said.

Due to sustained pressure, Mohit, Rohit and Madhu Rani surrendered and were apprehended. Later, kingpin Himanshu also surrendered and was arrested, the police said. PTI BM KVK KVK