The Enforcement Directorate has arrested one person in connection with the fake call centres being run in different parts of India for cheating U.S. citizens on the pretext of offering loans at cheaper rates of interest.
Identified as Rafiq Khan, the accused had been absconding and was intercepted at Jaipur airport while he was trying to flee to the United Arab Emirates’ Sharjah. He was one of the alleged conspirators behind running of the call centres.
The ED probe is based on the First Information Reports registered by the Rajasthan police. The accused persons had opened the virtual call centres and accounts in the United States, which were being operated from Jaipur, Mohali, Mathura, and others parts of India.
“The proceeds of crime...had been routed through various Indian and foreign bank accounts opened in the name of accused persons and shell companies registered by them. The funds were ultimately invested in the properties in order to project them as genuine and untainted,” an official said.
Earlier, the ED had arrested three accused persons named Shahanawaz Ahmed Jeelani, Vipin Kumar Sharma, and Viraj Singh Kuntal. They are currently in judicial custody. The agency has also filed prosecution complaints in the case on August 24, 2023.
