Wife broke ties after call centre scam, says Sagar Thakkar

Mumbai: Sagar Thakkar alias Shaggy, the mastermind behind the US call centre scam, has allegedly told the Thane police that he had married his girlfriend last year in an Ahmedabad court. He said that his girlfriend was unaware of the scam. Shocked over the scam revelations, his newly-wed wife travelled to Dubai to meet him and broke all ties with him, Thakkar told the police.

According to cops, Thakkar was in touch with his girlfriend after he went absconding in October 2016. He had settled in Dubai after procuring a residency permit as the police was after him. The police claims that his girlfriend is not involved in the scam. A Thane police official said, “During interrogation, Sagar Thakkar revealed that he married his girlfriend in July 2016. It was a court marriage. But she didn't know that Thakkar is involved in any crime. Before their marriage, he gifted her an Audi car.”

The official said that the girlfriend and her family were shocked when they heard about the criminal case against Thakkar. "They forced her to break their relationship. Apparently after Thakkar went absconding and took shelter in Dubai, he contacted his girlfriend. She went to Dubai and broke the relationship," the official said.   

The Thane police on October 29 had seized an Audi R8 car worth Rs 2.5 crore that he had bought from India Test team captain Virat Kohli. Thakkar gifted the car to his girlfriend in May 2016 for her birthday.

Thakkar is the alleged mastermind of the call centre scam in which thousands of Americans were defrauded to the tune of USD 300 million. In the scam, employees of some half a dozen call centres based in Mira Road in Thane contacted US nationals and cheated them by posing as their tax, immigration and other federal authorities and demanded payments for non-existent debts.