Kolkata: 2 held for running fake friendship club in Lake Gardens

KOLKATA: A team of Hyderabad Police, with help from cops at the Lake police station, arrested two real estate agents — Ananda Kar and Buddhadeb Pal — on Friday for allegedly running a fake friendship club through a call centre at a rented house in Lake Gardens.
Police suspect that the call centre was a front for an online flesh trade racket that was being run alongside a fraudulent telephonic dating service. The police seized several mobiles, SIM cards, a laptop and some documents from the house. Cops said that customers would strike a deal online and then the women would be given fixed hours to talk to them. The owner of the house stated that he had kept a copy of the PAN card, EPIC and Aadhaar card of the accused tenants. He also had a copy of their trade licence. He handed over all the documents to the police.
Cops said there were reports of numerous fake friendship clubs and dating agencies masquerading as call centres in different parts of the city. “Woman telecallers would engage in sex chats with clients for Rs 5,000-Rs 50,000,” said an officer.