Call centre owner held in Delhi for illegally routing internet calls on Indian numbers

A call centre was busted here for allegedly routing international internet calls to Indian phone numbers by illegally bypassing the legal gateway for such connections besides causing revenue loss to the government, police said on Monday.

Sumit Kumar Bisdah, 27, who was running the call centre, was arrested from Laxmi Nagar in Delhi after an FIR was lodged in Noida on a complaint by officials of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India, they said.

Besides the revenue loss, the call centre had posed a threat to national security by the act, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Noida, Ranvijay Singh said, after a joint raid by the local Sector 20 police and a DoT team.

“Based on the information, the illegal set-up was tracked at two houses in Sector 2 and Sector 8 of Noida. Equipment and evidences were collected from the two spots and based on that, Bisdah was arrested from Laxmi Nagar in Delhi,” a police spokesperson said.

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“He had illegally installed the telecom set-up and used his system to divert voice calls from international numbers to Indian phone numbers, bypassing the legal connection gateway,” the spokesperson said.

“His acts have caused heavy loss to the Telecom department and the Indian government. His illegal act could have also jeopardised national security,” the police official added.

Additional DCP Singh said the licence was provided to the call centre for a limited activity but it was running more than permissible channels. Discrepancies were found in their documents during verification done by DoT technical officials, he said.

“Internet calls from abroad were landing on mobile phones in India. This could have been done only through ISD licensing. ISD routes were bypassed to connect international calls here (in India). This caused a huge revenue loss to the government also,” Singh said.

“Also, for just procuring the ISD licence one needs to pay crores of rupees in fees and it involves security checks and compliance of government rules. This call centre had not taken that licence,” he added.

“Secondly, such a type of act is a threat to national security. The identity of callers is not visible on such internet-based calls. The calls routed from this centre included several calls done by suspicious channels and groups. Secrecy and security were being compromised,” the officer said.

An estimated amount of revenue loss incurred by the government was not immediately known and the police have not yet revealed how long the illegal activity had been taking place.

“Bisdah's network was large scale. Prime facie, it appears a prominent media group based outside India also used his illegal network for routing calls on Indian phone numbers,” an official privy to the probe told PTI.

Bisdah is a native of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh, the police said.

The police said they have seized two laptops, four routers, and devices related to voice over internet protocol (VOIP) from his offices and home.

An FIR has been lodged at Noida's Sector 20 police station under Indian Penal Code Section 420 (cheating). Bisdah has also been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the police said.