Three held for harassing people over loan recovery in Thane

Thane, Jul 9 (PTI) Three persons have been arrested for allegedly harassing people on the pretext of debt collection in Maharashtra’s Thane district, police said on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the police received a complaint about abusive and obscene phone calls from debt collectors, an official said.

Following a probe, the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Thane crime branch arrested Rahul Kumar Tilakdhari Dubey (33), a representative of a telecom company, who allegedly issued SIM cards under customers’ names without their knowledge, provided information to a loan recovery call centre, deputy commissioner of police crime, Shivraj Patil said.

The police also raided a call centre in Bhayandar and arrested Shubham Kalicharan Ojha (29) and Amit Mangala Pathak (33), he said.

The duo reportedly had agreements with several financial institutions, the official said.

The police have seized electronic equipment, including hard disks, a GSM gateway, and mobile phones, he said.

The three accused were remanded to police custody till July 10, the official said.

Thane City Police Commissioner Ashutosh Dumbre urged citizens to report harassment or abusive language from loan recovery agents to their local police station.