GURUGRAM: The station house officer (SHO) of Bilaspur police station was suspended, his counterpart in DLF Phase 1 was sent to the police lines and five other officers of the same rank were issued censure letters in connection with the rising number of bogus call centres being unearthed in the city.
In a meeting with senior officers of the city, police commissioner KK Rao made it amply clear that the SHO of the local police station would face inquiry and could even be suspended if any sham call centre was busted in areas under his jurisdiction. Rao also admitted that wrong-side driving was one of the biggest causes of accidents in the city and asked his force to take steps to curb the menace.
Over the past few years, the city has earned notoriety for being the hub of bogus call centres. In 2020 alone, 14 such centres were busted by the police and the chief minister’s flying squad. Youths working in these centres usually targeted US nationals with a similar modus operandi — taking money with the promise of providing tech support and social security number.
With sham centres being busted in the city almost every month, the police were faced with allegations of providing tactical patronage to the kingpins of these gangs and turning a blind eye to the racket. The police chief’s tough stance against the senior officers comes just weeks after the SHO of Kherki Daula police station, Vishal Kumar, was accused of kidnapping the owner of a call centre and extorting Rs 57 lakh from him. Kumar, who evaded arrest for a few days, was eventually arrested after he surrendered in court.
Reports of the city’s sham call centres transcended national boundaries too and caught the attention of international media. This was in March last year, when a UK-based ethical hacker busted a racket operating in Udyog Vihar.
“If any fake centre is found operating in the city, the SHO of that area will be suspended immediately and action will be taken against him or her,” Rao said at the meeting. “In the future, if any officer is found negligent at work, he should be ready for suspension and a departmental inquiry,” he warned.
The police chief also directed all DCPs, ACPs, SHOs and in-charges of crime units to review pending cases and resolve grievances at the earliest. All these officers were asked to do crime mapping of their areas.
“Complaints received online and through other mediums should be resolved on a priority basis. Any kind of inconvenience should be avoided,” said Rao.
Referring to a rising number of cases of cybercrime, the police chief said SHOs and other senior officers should undergo training by cyber experts so that they can deal with cases related to online frauds. The city has a dedicated cyber police station, but the training to handle such cases is limited to a few officers here.
Rao also highlighted the number of fatal accidents that have taken place recently. The police chief agreed that wrong-side driving was among the main causes of increasing accidents and directed the traffic police to take action against vehicles violating road safety norms, particularly at night.
On Sunday night, a pilot with a private airline was killed on the Dwarka Expressway when a truck being driven on the wrong side crashed into his car.