Maha: Five held for duping people of lakhs

Five persons were arrested for allegedly operating a fake call centre and duping people to the tune of lakhs by promising them loans and insurance in Maharashtra's Thane city, police said on Thursday. The police on Wednesday arrested asGanesh Tiruvalli, Ganesh Manjrekar, Gyaneshwar Kamble, Dheeraj Singh and Tushar Sonvane, who operated a call centre at Wagle Estate, an official said.

The accused allegedly targetted people from rural areas by offering them loans at zero interest on the condition that they buy insurance from then, he said. The men would then collect money from the victims for insurance and later leave them without loans, he added.

The arrests came after the police received a complaint from one of the victims who had lost over Rs 1.50 lakh, he said. The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act, he said, adding that further probe is underway..