He had already sneaked out from the country on October 5 before police could nab him.
Sagar alias Shaggy Thakkar has already fled from the country in the early hours of October 5, when Thane Police was raiding his call centres. According to sources he might have left for Dubai. The teams of Crime Branch of Thane had already conducted raids at fake call centre after the call centre scam surfaced. They had raided seven call centres in Mira Road in the multi-crore scam involving cheating of US citizens posing as officials of US Tax Department. Sagar’s name was disclosed during the interrogations when about 70 directors and key persons along with 700 employees of those call centres were detained in connection with the case.
The police had raided the call centres on the night of October 4-5. A LOC (Look Out Circular) was already issued by the police against Shaggy on October 7, two days after his escape. They learnt about Sagar alias Shaggy after interrogating arrested directors. However, Shaggy had already left the country on October 5 before police could nab him.
His elder sister Reema another prime accused – also fled the country from New Delhi on October 8. The police are currently trying to investigate how both the key accused fled the country and have approached immigration authorities in this regard.
Shaggy has been living a lavish lifestyle as he was regularly spotted partying late night in Mumbai. He was fond of high-end cars and was usually accompanied by around a dozen bouncers. Shaggy was mentored by Jagdish Kanani at the age of 16. He received training from Kanani who had worked at various call centres abroad. Thus Shaggy started making fake calls to US citizens and also cheated them.
Police are now trying to obtain information from immigration authorities about how both the key accused fled the country. Police suspect that Shaggy and his sister have collected millions by cheating US nationals, in their personal accounts.
Meanwhile, investigators told a court in Thane that they have identified transactions worth Rs 25-30 crore in the call centre scam till now and that it will take a long time for them to arrive at the actual figure given the magnitude of the scandal.
