Cyber Cafe misued to terminate international internet call to telephones. : India

Lawyer arrested for giving VSNL the slip

Equipment worth Rs 5 lakh seized
Express News Service

Pune, August 27: SANJIV Ramchandra Dudhat, a lawyer practicing at the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) at Pimpri was arrested for his alleged involvement in allowing people to receive ISD from USA, bypassing VSNL, at an internet cafe which is in the name of his wife. Dudhat has been a lawyer for 14 years.
Police said Dudhat was arrested after Raju Shanjkarrao Teli, an assistant manager from Tata Teleservices, lodged a complaint at Pimpri police station. VSNL levies transfer charges on every incoming ISD call.


The loss suffered by VSNL due to Dudhat�s operations is estimated to be around Rs 1.35 crore, the police added.
Police said Dudhat obtained five telephone connections of Tata Teleservices and three connections of Reliance in the name of his wife Vanita at his office and opened Akanksha Cyber Pvt Ltd, a cyber cafe, a year-and-a-half ago.
VSNL�s vigilance officer Hari Om Solankhi noticed on August 25 that calls from USA were bypassing VSNL and were being converted into local calls at the cyber cafe with the help of internet.
VSNL officials alerted the Tata Teleservices officials who lodged a police complaint.
A team of policemen, led by inspector-in-charge of Pimpri police station PU Kohinkar, raided the cyber cafe and seized equipment worth over Rs 5.31 lakh.
Police said investigations so far have indicated the involvement of Dudhat's brother-in-law Ashish Umrani, who is a software engineer settled in San Francisco."