Man held for operating fake call centres, duping 10 medical aspirants

A 35-year-old man was arrested for allegedly operating fake call centres and duping at least 10 medical aspirants on the pretext of getting them admissions in colleges, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, Ram Vinay Bhushan, was nabbed on Monday from Netaji Subhash Place, from where he was operating the call centre, they said.

Two of his associates, Ajay Jaiswal and Chandan, are at large, police said, adding that raids are being conducted to nab them.

The matter came to light after a complaint was filed by Anwar Hussain, a resident of Kotla Mubarak Pur, the police said.

According to the complainant, Bhushan was running a fake medical seat syndicate and had cheated him to the tune of Rs 30 lakh.

A case was registered under sections of cheating, criminal intimidation and other Indian Penal Code sections at the Rajouri Garden police station.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed that he, along with his two associates, runs call centres in various parts of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. They used to purchase data of medical aspirants and qualified National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) candidates from online portals, a senior police official said.

Women working in these call centres called the aspirants frequently for admission in nationwide medical colleges. They would ask for around Rs 30-40 lakh per candidate, he said.

They fixed up a meeting with the aspirants and took an initial amount for registration, admission and hostel facilities. They also took candidates to the college concerned where one of their associates pretended to be a representative of a college and got the money deposited, he added.

Later, they switched off their call phones and also changed the location of their call centres, the official said.

Notices were served to eight women who were working with the accused, he said.

A mobile phone and Rs 5 lakh has been refunded to the complainant so far, the police said, adding that further investigation is underway.