Police bust fake call centre, detain 116 people for duping US citizens
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (PTI): Police in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Tuesday busted a fake call centre and detained 116 people, including a juvenile, allegedly involved in stealing the data of US citizens and duping them, an official said.
The police took the action based on intelligence inputs, he said.
"After receiving information about an illegal call centre being run in the city, the police raided the facility - Connect Enterprises - around 1.30 pm. It was a full-fledged call centre operated by Ahmedabad-based Valay Vyas, who is among the detained persons," the official said.
"People employed there used to call American citizens and inform them about their pending tax dues. The callers would then threaten the US citizens about the penalty, while their colleagues would act as negotiators and ask the victims to buy digital gift cards of the amount of their dues," inspector Geeta Bagawade told reporters.
"Based on the number printed on the gift cards, the callers would siphon off the amount in USD, which would then be converted into crypto currency," she said.
Those employed at the call centre were paid Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 salary per month and would be given an incentive of Rs three per USD, the official said.
When the cyber team examined the laptops at the call centre, they were found storing the personal data of US citizens, tax receipts, court orders, fake documents mentioning the names of US officials, the script given to interact with the victims and the list of amount siphoned off, the official added.
The city police detained 116 persons, including a juvenile, who hail from various states in India, according to the official.
"The people here allegedly cheated American as well as other foreigners. It was also found that they worked for a person named John who is a partner in the business," the official said.
The process to register a case in this connection was underway in MIDC CIDCO police station here, the official said.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
