An international cyber-fraud network allegedly shifted its call-centre operations from South Goa and Kolkata to Varanasi and Lucknow, with its members planning to open three to four more centres in the city, police said on Thursday.
A centre in Varanasi was also shut after police learnt about its activities. The two newly arrested accused are also facing cases in other states. Police records show a case against Chauhan in Goa, while Tomar is named in a case registered in Kolkata.
After police activity against cyber-fraud networks increased, its members allegedly shifted to Aliganj’s Ridhya Plaza, where police raided the operation on September 18 and arrested 16 people. Devendra Singh Tomar, 41, and Himanshu Dharmapal Chauhan, 29, were part of the closure/verification and management teams at the Aliganj call centre, according to police. Police said Tomar had spent 78 days in Dum Dum Central Jail. The existing operation was making around 30 calls a day, with an alleged conversion rate of 1-2%, police said.
The network had earlier operated in South Goa and Kolkata before moving to Varanasi and subsequently setting up bases in Lucknow, including one in Vibhuti Khand, DCP North Amit K Anand said at a press conference. Investigators said both had also worked with Shiva alias Priyanshu Kushwaha, who remains wanted in the case. Police said similar operations had earlier been run in South Goa, where a cybercrime case was registered, and in Kolkata’s New Town/Eco Park area, where another case was registered. “The network subsequently moved to Lucknow, where investigators have found evidence of operations in Vibhuti Khand before the group allegedly shifted again following information that police were tightening their crackdown on cyber-fraud,” Anand said. Police said the group was planning to expand its operations in Lucknow by opening three to four more call centres.
