Noida: Fake call centre duping people with bogus insurance offers busted, 13 held
Noida (UP) (PTI): A fake call centre allegedly cheating people by offering bogus insurance policies and false promises of bonuses in exchange for payments was busted in Noida on Tuesday, leading to the arrest of 13 persons, police said.
The modus operandi of the racket allegedly involved callers posing as insurance agents contacting policyholders and potential customers and luring them into transferring money into bank accounts controlled by the accused, an official said.
A joint team of the Cyber Crime Police Station, Gautam Buddh Nagar, and Sector 63 police carried out the operation and busted the fake call centre operating from H-198 in Sector 63, police said.
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During the raid, police recovered two laptops, a modem, a PNT (positioning, navigation, and timing) telecaller device, 31 mobile phones, 721 data sheets and two diaries, they added.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Shavvya Goyal said during interrogation, the accused revealed they would contact people claiming to represent insurance companies and persuade them to renew lapsed policies, buy new ones, or claim promised bonuses.
"Although they claimed to work for only two insurance companies, the accused procured data of other companies' policyholders from the market and contacted them using multiple fake phone numbers and bank accounts," Goyal said, adding that the illegal proceeds were later shared among the gang members.
The arrested persons have been identified as Chhatrapal Sharma, Satyam, Sameer, Raj Salauddin, Ishwar Karmali, Suhail, Vivek Kumar, Sumit Kumar, Mohd Asif, Suhail, Rajiv Kumar, Mithilesh and Hariom.
An FIR has been registered under sections 318 (cheating), 319 (cheating by personation), 336 (forgery), 340 (forgery by documents) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and under provisions of the Information Technology Act at Sector 63 police station.
Police said Chhatrapal Sharma (32), a resident of Greater Noida West and CEO of Grow UP Management Solution OPC Pvt Ltd, has a criminal history, with multiple cases registered against him.
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11k litres of milk poured into Narmada river after religious event; environmentalists see red
Sehore (PTI): Around 11,000 litres of milk were poured into Narmada river, often called the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh, in Sehore district on the culmination of a 21-day religious event as part of a sanctification ritual, prompting environmentalists to flag its negative impact on the ecosystem.
The event concluded at Satdev village in Bherunda area, located about 90 km from the district headquarters, with a 'mahayagna' on Wednesday.
The milk was offered to the river as part of rituals and prayers for the purity of the waters, the well-being of pilgrims and prosperity, organisers said.
The milk was brought in tankers to the riverbank and later poured into the flowing water amid chanting of mantras in the presence of a crowd of devotees.
However, environmentalists raised concerns over the practice, warning of its potential ecological impact.
"Such large quantities of organic matter can deplete dissolved oxygen in water, adversely affecting the river ecosystem. These impact local communities dependent on the river for drinking water and threaten aquatic life as well as domestic animals," noted environmentalist and wildlife activist Ajay Dube said.
Religious offerings should be symbolic and mindful, he asserted.
Renowned environmentalist Subhash Pandey said 11,000 litres of milk acts as a significant organic pollutant.
"It is highly oxygen-demanding and can lead to oxygen depletion, aquatic mortality, eutrophication (process of plants growing on river surface) and loss of potability. These effects are predictable from dairy-effluent chemistry and have been documented in similar incidents worldwide," Pandey pointed out.
Narmada originates at Amarkantak in the state and traverses 1,312 km westward to Maharashtra and Gujarat, emptying into the Arabian Sea via the Gulf of Cambay.
It is the largest west-flowing river in the peninsula, passing through a rift valley, and acts as a crucial water source for irrigation in MP, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
