Newsroom24x7 Staff

New Delhi: The Crime Branch of Deljhi police has caught three persons accused of cheating gullible people on the pretext of installation of mobile towers on rental basis by running a call centre.

The three arrested are Snehil Toshniwal (29 yrs), resident of DDA Flats, Madangiri, New Delhi, Rohit Bhatia (23 yrs) , resident of Hari Nagar, Delhi and Rahul Rajput (23yrs), resident of Sultanpuri, Delhi.

Harminder Singh, a resident of Jalandhar in Punjab, had lodged a complaint with the Crime Branch that he has been cheated by one ‘Amelio Group’ on the pretext of installing Mobile Signal Tower of Tata Docomo in his premises on a heavy rental. In January this year, some unknown person called him over his mobile phone and said that he was calling from the Delhi based office of Tata Docomo. He gave the prposal to install a mobile signal tower at his residence and said that he would be getting Rs.1,20,000 as advance rent apart from a monthly rent of Rs.40,000. On the directions of the tele-caller, the complainant paid him an amount of Rs.15,000 through cheque as “Refundable Registry Fee” which was credited in an account of IndusInd Bank maintained by Snehil Toshniwal in the name and style of M/s Amelio Group. A total amount of Rs.93,000 was deposited by the complainant in the bank accounts of Amelio Group and that of some individuals on the directions of the telecallers. Thereafter, on 5 February 2015, the complainant received a cheque of Rs. 157,300 through courier from Amelio Group but it was found to be forged.

On Harminder Singh’s complaint, a case (FIR No.90 under sections 419/420/467/468/471/120B of IPC was registered at PS Crime Branch and the Police launched the investigation.

A team led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Ravinder Tyagi and comprising of Inspector Pankaj Arora, Sub inspectors Prabhanshu and Vineet Kumar, Head constables Jagdish, Narender, and Vikas Kumar, Constables Rakesh and Sudhir was constituted under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of POlice Rajan Bhagat and overall guidance of Additional Commisssioner of POlice Ashok Chand to nab the culprits.During investigation, it was revealed that all the phone numbers used to contact the victim were procured through forged documents.The Bank Account in IndusInd Bank, Lajpat Nagar, Delhi, where the complainant had deposited the amount under the instructions of the telecaller had been opened in the name of M/s Amelio Group with its office at Shop No. 9, WZ-141, Village Budella,Vikas Puri, Delhi, by its Proprietor Snehil Toshniwal who showed his residence as 266, Block-G, Dakshinpuri, New Delhi.

The residential address given to the bank by the Proprietor of the alleged firm was found to fake. The Amelio Group had already closed down their call centre-cum-office at the given address in village Budella, Vikas Puri, Delhi and shifted to a new place. The Police team was able to locate the new address of Snehil Toshniwal and he was arrested on 17 June 2015 and remanded to police custody. His two accomplices, Rohit Bhatia and Rahul Rajput were also apprehended. They were projecting themsleves as team leaders at the call centre.

The Police team raided a call centre in Subhash Nagar.This place was being used to make calls to the gullible people. A number of phones, SIM cards, computers and a laptop have been recovered. The kingpin and mastermind of this racket has been identified as Pawan Yadav. He is absconding. A Police team has been sent at his known hideouts, including his native place in Etah (UP) to arrest him. The retailers who have issued the SIM cards to the alleged persons on fake documents are also being interrogated and the bank statements are being scrutinized to identify the other victims. Initial scrutiny suggests that they have cheated gullible persons to the tune of Rs. 1 crore.

The accused Snehil Toshniwal is a graduate from Delhi University and an MBA from Sikkim Manipal University. He is the Proprietor of the alleged firm being run under the name & style of Amelio Group. He and his co-accused Pawan were previously working with different call centers. In order to cheat people, they had constituted 4 teams and each team comprised a team leader and 3-4 telecallers.

Another Accused Rohit Bhatia (23 yrs) has studied up to 12th standard. he was working as a Team Leader of telecallers. He used to call the targeted individuals and lure them on the pretext of installation of mobile signal towers at their premises.

The third accused Rahul Rajput (23 yrs) also has studied up to the 12th standard. Just as Rohit, he too was working as a Team Leader and was getting his salary from Amelio Group and also incentive on the money collected by his team.

Snehil Toshniwal and the absconding accused Pawan, who were earlier working at call centres, had taken away customer’s data while quitting their jobs. They started calling and targeting these customers on the pretext of installing mobile phonetower. They had set up a call centre and employed 14-15 tele-callers in the area of Budella, Vikaspuri, Delhi in a rented premises. In March this year, they shifted to Gopal Nagar in Delhi.

These cheats were also cheating people by offering cheap hioliday packages and loans on low rates of interest.