Thane tele fraud case: Team in Gujarat finds no leads

A Thane police team sent to Gujarat to find the alleged mastermind of the tele-fraud case come back this week without any leads

A Thane police team sent to Gujarat to find the alleged mastermind of the tele-fraud case come back this week without any leads.

The police’s probe last week found Sagar Thakkar, alias Saggy,23, a Mira road resident, was the man behind the scam. Police sources said he was hiding in Gujarat. “When our team raided a place where we suspected he was hiding, he got a tip off and fled. We think he has left India and are trying to trace him. We will talk to his family,” said a senior police official.

Deputy commissioner of police, Parag Manere, said the police will be sending another team out of the state to find Thakkar. “He is one of the main accused in the case. We will send out another team.”

The tele-fraud case came to light last week, when the Thane police raided a call centre in Mira Road. The probe found the call centre to be front for the accused to dupe US tax defualters of their money. The employees of the centres posed as US revenue officials to bully their victims into revealing bank account details.

On Monday, 17 of the 72 people arrested in case were remanded in police custody, and the others were sent to judicial custody. The 17 people have been accused of training staff on making calls and learning up the American accent. An inspector from the Thane crime branch said the 17 accused were constantly changing their statements.

So far, a dozen call centres have been raided in connection with the scam.