In a joint operation, officers from the CCB working with vigilance officials from the Telecom Department cracked down on an illegal international telephone exchange unit operating from Hennur that would convert international calls to domestic ones.
“An estimations by investigators revealed that through the racket, BSNL has incurred losses of around ₹9.5 crore with an additional loss of ₹75 lakh to the Centre towards the taxes,” said a CCB officer.
The exchange provided services to a few private firms in and around the city, and was being run with the help of a Chicago-based telecom service.
Based on specific information, the team raided the exchange — operating out of a house at DVR Colony in Hennur — on Wednesday and arrested Gopalakrishna Verma, 35.
“Inquiries revealed that Verma was running the unit for the past few months and would route international calls as domestic ones by bypassing the telecom gateways. They had purchased unlimited plan SIM cards from BSNL, which he would use to convert the international calls to local ones using gateways and routers,” said a CCB officer.
The police have seized three gateway routers and 40 SIM cards. Verma allegedly confessed that he would provide services to private firms in and around the city offering discounted rates. He has been taken into custody, and the police are now investigating whether he is part of a larger scam.
