Pune Crime Branch Busts Illegal Call Center Duping American Citizens, Owners Among 32 Detained
Reported by Mubarak Ansari
Hadapsar, 1st October 2025: In a major cybercrime crackdown, the Pune Police Crime Branch raided an unauthorized call centre operating from the Marvel Fuego building on Magarpatta Road. The centre was allegedly defrauding American senior citizens of lakhs of rupees through malware scams and cryptocurrency fraud. A total of 32 people, including the owner, were arrested, while valuables worth ₹15.77 lakh were seized.
According to officials, the action was carried out late Wednesday night (September 30) by Unit 5 of the Crime Branch, following specific inputs about the fraudulent activities. The operation was conducted under the guidance of Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police Ranjan Kumar Sharma, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Pankaj Deshmukh, DCP Nikhil Pingle, and ACP Rajendra Mulik.
Three offices on the fourth floor of the Marvel Fuego building, near Seasons Mall, were being used to run the illegal call center. Police said the operators targeted elderly American citizens by planting malware pop-ups on their phones, laptops, and computers. Victims were then contacted by the accused, who posed as technical support agents. They allegedly extorted money in the form of cryptocurrency, convincing victims to pay for fake antivirus apps and “protection settings” under the threat of data theft from bank accounts and credit cards.
The arrested suspects include call centre operator-owner Nirmal Ajay Shah (38), a resident of Kumar Picasso Society, Hadapsar; Atul Praveen Shrimali (30), a resident of Laburnum Park Society, Magarpatta, and Yugandhar Sanjay Hadge (34), a resident of Shivkrishna Housing Society, Manjari Budruk. Along with them, 29 call center employees were detained. A search is currently underway for two other suspects linked to the operation.
During the raid, police seized 29 laptops, 20 computers, 41 mobile phones, 7 routers, and other electronic equipment valued at over ₹15.77 lakh.
More than 25 officers, including Police Sub-Inspectors Amol Rasal, Chhabu Berad, Pramod Kharat, Santosh Tanwade, and Abhijit Pawar, along with the team led by PI Sanjay Patange of Unit 5, participated in the operation.
Police said a case has been registered at Hadapsar Police Station. Investigators will now probe the accused’s financial transactions, cryptocurrency wallets, and foreign links to uncover the extent of the cyber fraud.
