A call centre in Dum Dum that police raided on Monday night was involved in cheating people and had been operating from an apartment rented out by a policeman, officers said.

A man was arrested at the spot and 17 women, who were allegedly involved in making fraudulent calls, have been summoned for questioning.

While the apartment was being searched, the call centre personnel allegedly tried to conceal evidence by throwing their mobile phones and other gadgets into the building’s overhead water tank.

A woman in East Midnapore’s Panskura had complained that she was duped by a man named Ghanshyam Haldar, who took money from her against a false promise of getting her a job. While investigating the complaint, East Midnapore police learnt that Haldar ran a call centre from a building in Dum Dum, which is under the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate.

A police team made up of personnel from Panskura and the cybercrime wing
of Barrackpore police raided the building at 2 Motilal Colony where Haldar was suspected to be running the call centre.

“Ghanshyam Haldar, who was the accused in our case, was arrested after a prolonged interrogation,” said an officer of East Midnapore police.

Several mobile phones, laptops and documents related to the operations of the call centre and the database of clients were recovered from the overhead tank.

Officers of Barrackpore
police have started a case against Haldar for allegedly running a call centre that would fraudulently dupe men by luring them into “friendship” or “relationships” by initiating calls by women employees.

“The suspected modus operandi was to extort money from men by initiating calls by women who would lure the men by offering friendship and then charge money for services that would not be provided to them,” said an officer of the Barrackpore commissionerate.

The police said the 17 women found at the call centre have been summoned for questioning.

A senior officer of the Barrackpore commissionerate said a preliminary inquiry had revealed that the house where the call centre was running belongs to a serving police officer. “However, we have not found any link between the owner and the call centre. If needed, we will question the landlord, too,” the officer
said.

Panskura police have arrested Haldar under sections of cheating and criminal breach of trust. Barrackpore police have started the case under the Information Technology Act.