Gurugram duo behind fake call centre moves court

NOIDA: Gurgaon residents Jimmy Asija and Narendra Pahuja, the duo who allegedly ran a huge operation in NCR for

fake call centre

mastermind Sagar Thakkar (Shaggy), have moved the Allahabad high court for the FIR against them to be quashed. Asija and Pahuja were identified as the main operators of the sham call centre that was busted in Noida on December 21 in which 126 people were taken into custody, many of them from the northeast who had come to NCR looking for jobs.


The raid was conducted after a tip-off from the FBI, which has put police in NCR cities on alert about a large number of call centre frauds targeting American citizens originating from here. The petition by Asija and Pahuja — number 601/2019 — was filed on January 7.

At the local court in Surajpur, meanwhile, the bail pleas of 65 youngsters accused in the case were heard. The hearing has been scheduled again for January 18. In the FIR, three persons have been identified as ‘owners’ of the sham call centre —Shaggy, Pahuja and Asija. Shaggy, the man

behind

the infamous sham call centres of Thane, is believed to be abroad.

Manoj Bhati, advocate for four of the accused youngsters arrested from the call centre, told TOI their families tried to meet the Noida police chief on Wednesday but could not since he had left. “We will try to meet him day after tomorrow. The families have been trying for bail. The masterminds are roaming freely,” Bhati said.

Akhilesh Tripathi, the Phase III SHO and investigating officer in the case, said the whereabouts of Asija, Pahuja and Shaggy were unknown. “If they have gone for quashing of FIR, it is their legal right,” he said.

On the website of the high court, while the date of filing petition is January 7, the date of registration is January 9 and the status is “pending”. SP (crime) Ashok Singh told TOI since the court is yet to hear the plea of Asija and Pahuja, police will wait for a notice.