Fake call centre scam: Mastermind's 'mentor' arrested

During interrogation of several arrested accused, investigators got information about illegal call centres running in Pralhad Nagar in Ahmedabad since 2009 Police found a huge server installed in one of these call centres which had the entire data base generated from the call centres which were part of the racket

A Mumbai businessman, who is alleged to have mentored the mastermind of the multi-million dollar Thane call centre racket, was arrested on Monday.

The 33-year-old, identified as Jagdish Kanani was arrested from suburban Borivali on Sunday night, a senior police officer said.

Kanani started working in a BPO firm abroad and learnt the methods of collection through outsourcing firms. He then set up fake call centres across the country to earn a quick money by extorting money from U.S. victims, the officer said.

Kanani is suspected to be the brain behind many fake call centres across the country, including the one at Mira Road that was raided by the Thane Police earlier this month. He is suspected to have helped Sagar Dharmesh Thakkar in shaping and setting up these centres.

“Now that we have arrested him, we will get to know the whereabouts of Thakkar and others, who were also mentored by him,” the police officer said.

The Crime Branch (Thane Police) have arrested 70 persons after a raid on seven call centres operating illegally in Mira Road. Another 630 people were booked under IPC sections 384 (extortion), 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating) and under relevant sections of the IT Act and the Indian Telegraph Act.