Mumbai Police arrested three men from Ghaziabad on Sunday for allegedly duping several people from Mumbai under the pretext of sanctioning them loans. The police have identified the trio as Ashukumar Singh (25), Vivek Sharma (26) and Shyamkant Sharma (22). They were allegedly operating from a bogus call centre in Ghaziabad. An officer said: “The trio rented a place in Ghaziabad from where they were allegedly operating. Singh, who is from Ghaziabad, was responsible for calling up people. He would somehow get the database of loan seekers and call them up. He would claim that their loans had been sanctioned following which he would start demanding money from them under the pretext of paying taxes towards the sanctioned loans.” Rajesh Muke, a PHD student from ICT college in Matunga, was recently duped of Rs 91,000. A case was registered on December 31 with Matunga police. Muke needed Rs 2 lakh for a project and he had applied for a loan with a national bank. Later, he got a call from the trio and fell prey to the scam. “The caller claimed that his loan had been sanctioned by the bank and for that, he was asked to pay some money. The trio even gave him few forms to fill up. The complainant paid them Rs 91,000 through multiple transactions under the pretext of paying taxes. After that, the trio stopped answering his calls,” said an officer. Vivek and Shyamkant were responsible for withdrawing money from ATMs that would be transferred by those who sought the loans, said the police. The police learnt about their location in Ghaziabad and a team with Sub-Inspector Maruti Shelke and constables, Santosh Pawar and Vikas More, laid a trap at an ATM in Vasundhara area of Ghaziabad. Shyamkant was held on the seventh day, the police said. “Shyamkant was caught from the ATM booth after he came to withdraw money. He led us to the bogus call centre from where the other two were caught,” said an officer from Matunga police station. The three have been booked under relevant sections for cheating and forgery. They were produced in court on Monday and remanded in police custody for 10 days.
