Sk Vinod held for cyber fraud in Kolkata

KOLKATA: The Regent Park police on Monday arrested history-sheeter Sk Vinod for his alleged involvement in a fake call centre at Azadgarh in Jadavpur. He had allegedly been minting money by duping people through several cyber frauds across India.
According to cops, Vinod — who was arrested several times in the past two decades and had managed to flee from Dum Dum Correctional Home with four others in September 2003 — had started dabbling in white collar crime for the past several months.His aides, however, claimed that it was a “political arrest” with orders “from one influential political leader”. Eight separate bank accounts, where the money was deposited, have been freezed so far.
Acting DC (south suburban) Biswajit Ghosh said they had received a complaint from a public sector bank located at Purba Putiary that huge amounts of money were getting deposited in a particular account. And it was being withdrawn soon after. According to investigators, it was also around the same time that a Patna-based man, Kumar Anand, complained to the bank that Rs 10,500 from his account had been deposited in the name of Chaman Singh in this branch. A case in this regard was lodged on August 7. When Singh came to withdraw money through cheque, the cops detained him.
“The police were called and Singh was brought to the police station for questioning. Chaman claimed he was Vinod’s driver and was acting on his instruction. Finally, Vinod was arrested and remanded in police custody for a day. We are questioning Vinod on how long he has been operating this call centre. There are reports that he was extorting money through other fake call centres in south and south east Kolkata. However, we have not found any evidence,” said an investigating officer.
Police are ascertaining if Vinod — who had settled for a construction related business after he was released from jail — was being helped by people from the infamous Jamtara gangs. The police have so far slapped cheating and criminal conspiracy cases against the accused.