Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) Seven women and two men were arrested here for allegedly duping men after promising to put them in touch with housewives, college girls, models and air hostesses for friendship, police said Wednesday.
The Crime Branch Tuesday arrested key accused Umesh, 21, who started the racket with his brother Manjesh in Hudson Lane of Kingsway Camp in north Delhi five months ago. They inducted a relative, Nagender Sharma. Manjesh is absconding, the police said.

The police said the accused rented a first floor office in Hudson Lane for Rs.10,000 a month and recruited young women to pose as would-be friends. Women operatives were paid Rs.5,000 per month plus incentives depending on the business they netted.

“They operated nine telephones and four bank accounts. Scrutiny of these bank accounts shows huge transactions of more than Rs.2.8 million in the past five months. All the telephone connections had been procured on fake IDs. The bank accounts too were opened after submitting fake addresses,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Satyendra Garg.

Garg said registration for women seeking to join the Varsha International Club was free.

“They ran advertisements in leading newspapers in Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat with phone numbers,” Garg said.

“The callers were promised contact numbers of women willing to be friends. bank account number was given to the caller to deposit the money.”

There were three categories of “women friends” - college girls and housewives, the other including teachers, doctors and other professionals, while the upper category was for models and air hostesses.

The charges for “friendship” varied depending upon the period of friendship desired, he added.

The police said the accused charged Rs.3,000 to Rs.7,000 a month. After membership was taken, the women entertained the customers on the telephone for some time. “Once the caller became insistent on meeting in person, his calls were not entertained.”