Woman loses ₹27 lakh in scratch card racket

TIRUPATI: Nagari Urban police have busted an inter-state gang that swindled Naaptol customers after a woman from OG Kuppam village in Nagari mandal of Chittoor district complained of losing ₹27.10 lakh.

Disclosing details to reporters here on Friday, DSP N. Sudhakar Reddy said the accused gang members run call centres in West Bengal. They make calls and send letters with a scratch card to Naaptol customers, informing them that they have won a lottery.

“Gullible customers, who scratch the card, are made to believe they have won expensive gifts like vehicles, jewellery or its matching amount. When they contact members of the accused gang for their wins, persons speaking in the regional language lure them into parting with money for delivering the gift they have won,” the DSP explained.

In one such case, V. Radha of OG Kuppam was made to believe she had won a lottery conducted by Naaptol. They then sent her a letter with a scratch card, following which she was told she had won ₹25 lakh worth jewellery.

Then on pretext of verifying her credentials, the fraudsters asked her to deposit a percentage of money as tax amount. They then started collecting more and more money on some pretext or the other and the total amount reached ₹27.10 lakh.

Based on a complaint lodged by the victim’s mother K. Muthumari, Nagari Urban police filed a case and launched an investigation. Acting on directions of SP Y. Rishanth Reddy, special police teams led by circle inspector K. Srinivasanthi and sub-inspector G. Naresh arrested the prime accused – Sankar Mandal (32) of West Bengal’s Purba Bardhaman district.

Sankar Mandal is the main accused who started the call centres in West Bengal. He hired several tele callers to dupe gullible people. Based on his confession, police also arrested one Pintu Sarda from Chennai. Efforts are on to nab the remaining accused Parimal Mandal, Bholenath Mandal, Suguna and Nikhil Rajabakshi.

Police have recovered ₹10.80 lakh in cash and froze ₹2.29 lakh in the bank account.