4 women staffers of Andheri fake call centre interrogated

Four women employed with the illegal call centre busted in the early hours of Sunday at MIDC in Andheri East were interrogated by the crime branch on Monday, police said and added a search is underway for three persons, including the owner.Police officers said the staff members would pose as telemarketing executives of US-based online pharma companies such as “Online Pharmacy,” “Get Pharmacy,” and “Time Health,” and sell American citizens banned sex medicines such as Sildenafil, which is sold under different brand names like Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, and painkillers such as Tramadol.The accused, operating through voice over internet protocol calls, would ask the victims to email their medication requirements, after which they used to send them medicines by courier. However, in some cases, the accused received payments, but did not deliver the promised medicines, police officers said.The victims paid in dollars and once the police verified the bank accounts of the accused and the firm, they learnt that on an average the accused received around ₹20 lakh a month, said deputy commissioner of police Raj Tilak Roushan from the crime branch.An official from unit 10 of the crime branch said they received a tip-off about the call centre, which was being run in the name of “V3 Global Services” and was operating from the third floor of The Summit Business Park near the Western Express Highway metro station.A team led by police inspector Deepak Sawant carried out a raid on Saturday night and found 12 employees – eight men and four women – working and three people, identified as Yash Rajesh Sharma, 26, Saquib Mustaque Sayyad, 38, and Anjum Hamidani, 39, sitting in the office.On questioning, Sharma said he was working as a legal consultant for the firm and that the call center was owned by Rashid Ansari, a Mumbra resident, and Sayyad was his partner. Hamidani revealed that he was Sayyad’s friend, and he had come on a casual visit to the office, a police officer said.Ten of them were arrested while notices were issued to the four women. Those who were arrested have been identified as Sayyad, Sharma, Uzer Usman Gani Shaikh, Gautam Deepak Mhadik, Junaid Shamim Shaikh, Jeevan Lokesh Gauda, Munib Junaid Shaikh, Hussain Haidarali Shaikh, Vijay Dashrath Kori, and Mohammad Sufiyan Nadim Ahmed Mukadam. The three suspects at large are Ansari, Irfan Qureshi and Salman Motorwala, a police officer said.The accused told the police that they followed a script prepared by Sharma and Ansari and while talking to the US citizens they would use fake names, Roushan said.Investigations revealed that the accused did not have a valid licence to export medicines and they received money in the bank accounts but did not pay taxes to the Indian government.The office space had been rented from one Rashkendra Sharma, resident of Bhayander, but a copy of the rent agreement was not submitted to the local police station, Roushan said and added the accused were paying ₹1.40 lakh monthly rent for an area of around 700 square feet and had deposited ₹6 lakh.During the raid, 23 computers attached with headphones were found in the 12 cubicles. The employees revealed that they were working as sales executives, and in the absence of Ansari, Sharma and Sayyad used to handle day-to-day affairs, police officers said.“It appears that the accused have collected the data of US citizens. Further investigations will reveal who had supplied them with contact details of US citizens and how the money was routed to the Indian bank accounts,” Sawant said.