Salt Lake police have recorded the statement of an elderly doctor from New York, who was allegedly duped out of more than Rs 5.5 crore by a call centre, with the help of the FBI.
The call centre was allegedly run by two brothers from Howrah who were arrested in March.
Bidhannagar police commissioner Gaurav Sharma told The Telegraph on Friday that they were trying to ensure that geographical distance, something that most illegal call centres would take advantage of, to run their trade did not come in the way of serving justice.
“We are working in close coordination with multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Canadian police department among others, to ensure that we get to record statements from the victims and have water-tight cases against those who run and operate illegal call centres,” Sharma said.
The doctor had been duped after she received a call from one of the eight call centres that the brothers used to operate where the callers had posed as FBI agents, another senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.
According to the officer, the callers had posed as FBI agents and had told the elderly woman that her bank accounts were being used for overseas money laundering.
“She was told that they were warning her as she had gotten herself linked to the money laundering ring unknowingly and that she should transfer all the money in her bank accounts to a bank account sent by them,” the officer added.
The woman, who the police said was a medical practitioner, was not only shocked but believed the caller and transferred the funds in her account as well as those in her deceased husband’s account.
“She broke down during the video conference while she was giving out her statement,” the officer added.
The officer said that they were trying to set up dates to get the statements of this woman and at least five other US nationals who had been similarly cheated before a magistrate in Kolkata, under Section 164 of the CrPC, through video conferencing.
Statements recorded before a magistrate under Section 164 can be treated as evidence during trial.
The two brothers from Howrah had been arrested in March and are believed to
be among the top players of the illegal call centre racket in the city.
They used to operate eight such call centres in Sector V and New Town that have now been shut down by the police.
During the arrest, the cops had seized a Land Rover Defender SE — an SUV with a Rs 1 crore-plus price tag — a Land Rover Discovery Sport, a kilo of gold, cash, deeds of flats and plots from their home in Howrah’s Liluah.
Later, another police team raided a New Town hideout of the brothers and seized Rs 4 crore.