Ghaziabad: 7 arrested over running obscene chat centre in Sahibabad

The gang was operating for last one month in Sector-3, Rajendra Nagar and police got a tip off after a woman from Raj Nagar Extension complained

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad police on Saturday arrested seven people, including six women, for allegedly operating a call centre from a rented flat in Rajendra Nagar and indulging in online nudity and obscene video chats with different customers.

The complainant woman reported that she was called for an interview at a flat on July 4, and on visiting the place, she was asked to take the job that involved undressing herself before cameras and indulge in chats with customers. (Representative image)

The gang was operating for the last one month in Sector-3, Rajendra Nagar and police got a tip off after a woman from Raj Nagar Extension approached it with a complaint late Friday night, officers aware of the development said.

In her written complaint, the woman alleged that she had applied for an online job and got an interview call on July 1 during which one Ravinder Kumar, who identified himself as an employer, offered her the job of a finance advisor, they added.

“The woman was called for an interview at the said rented flat on July 4. On visiting the place, she was asked to take the job that involved undressing herself before cameras and indulge in chats with customers. She stated that there she saw five to six women performing the same online. She somehow exited the flat. However, the people in the flat issued threats and even threatened to deface her with acid. We registered an FIR on her complaint and sent a special team including woman officers to the said flat,” said Siddharth Gautam, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Shalimar Garden circle.

Police registered a first information report under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 56 (abetment of offence), 79 (insult to modesty of woman), 351(3) (criminal intimidation) and 352 (intentional insult) at Shalimar Garden police station on July 12.

During a late-night raid, police teams arrested seven people, including Ravinder Kumar, a resident of Rajbagh Colony in Sahibabad, and his alleged aide Puja Saxena, a resident of New Panchvati Colony.

The officer said that five other women who worked for the two suspects were also arrested.

“The five women are from Delhi, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Bulandshahr and Uttarakhand. They were paid a fixed percentage of money which the gang charged from customers. The duo was operating the centre for over a month at the rented flat and trying to recruit more women. The two suspects would charge customers for the chats and get the money transferred to their bank accounts,” the ACP informed.