Bullies steal IDs to get phone connections for making vasooli calls

Be careful while throwing that photocopy of your identity card in the dustbin; recovery agents might be on the hunt to use your details to get a mobile connection for their mean jobs.
u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
On Monday, the Special Cell of Delhi Police nabbed seven men from the Laxmi Nagar area in east Delhi, who did something similar. During the investigation, it was found that on June 20, some unidentified people used the complainant's documents to get a mobile connection. Also, there had been complaints received by various police stations about policemen and lawyers threatening legal action if defaulters do not pay the dues.u00a0

However, on a tip-off, the police arrested the gang, which was running a racket and working as recovery agents for a multinational bank.

According to sources, the kingpin of the gang, Sunil Howard, confessed he got all the members in his gang to change their mobile numbers by using someone else's details every month and used the new numbers to make extortion calls.

"Since 2004, Howard has been working as a recovery agent. He confessed the calls made by recovery agents to the defaulters were made through mobile phones. To keep defaulters at bay, they forged documents to procure SIM cards so that the number's never registered on their name. After making calls to defaulters, they changed their numbers frequently to avoid the police," said a senior Special Cell officer.

The recovery agents received a part of the commission from the banks whenever huge sums of money were recovered after their modus operandi worked. Others in the gang are Prashant Kumar Bajpai, Shahid, Ajay Kumar and Johnny Issac. The police are investigating the case to find out more links.

Their lingo
Two of the gang members identified as Wasim Khan and Atul Kumar knew how to modulate their voice and speak in the language of a policeman and lawyer.

Being masters of the art, they used to threaten defaulters by citing legal terminology in case the dues were not cleared immediately.

"Most of the time they used the name of the Station House Officer (SHO) of the local police station, officials from the crime branch of police or lawyers and asked the defaulters to cough up the money," a police official added.u00a0u00a0u00a0

The recovery agents received a part of the commission from the banks whenever huge sums of money were recovered after their modus operandi worked. The rest of the accused have been identified as Prashant Kumar Bajpai, Shahid, Ajay Kumar and Johnny Issac. The police are investigating the case to find more links.