Fake Visa Racket
News Source:- While investigating the escape routes of terror operatives from India, Delhi Police’s Special Cell has stumbled upon a multi-million Rupees racket in providing fake international visas to people. Six people, including two men from Punjab, have been arrested till now. The kingpin, Muntazir Ali, is based in Dubai and efforts are being made to track him.
DCP (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said 225 passports, including 90 Indian, 124 Nepalese and 11 Bangladeshi, have been seized, apart from chemicals, radium powder, embassy stamps, laser printers, fake visa stickers and holograms.
The syndicate is suspected to have issued fake visas to around 3,000 people till date. Many of them supposedly travelled successfully, while others were caught either at an Indian airport or at their destination. Each person was charged between 5-10 lakh, depending upon his profile and destination.
“The gang operated from an office in Laxmi Nagar. They applied for visas at VFS Global near Shivaji Stadium in Delhi and deposited the client’s passport and application form while giving their office address. The rejected forms along with the client’s passport got couriered to their office, which they used later for making fake visas,” said Yadav.
A team comprising ACP Sanjay Dutt, inspector Chandrika Prashad and others from the southwestern range of the cell busted the syndicate. They had been tracking sleeper cells of Khalistan Commando Force, Sikhs For Justice and other outfits and trying to trace how some of their members had fled from India to countries like the UK, France, Canada and Spain.
“In addition to scanning social media platforms, the human intelligence network was also deployed in Delhi-NCR and Punjab. This led to the team receiving information about a group from Delhi preparing and selling fake visas. The syndicate was dealing with Indians as well people from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal,” said the DCP.
A decoy was sent to develop information and verify the tip-off. On February 4, the team got to know that one of the members of the syndicate would meet his contacts at Janakpuri. A trap was laid and three accused were apprehended with fake visas. They led police to the others, who were nabbed on February 6 and 7.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that apart from the printing infrastructure, they had also set up a hologram making unit to copy the real ones and used radium coating for making the visas look authentic. The visas were prepared using designing and editing software.
The men arrested from Punjab were Lakhvinder from Patiala and Sanjeev from Jalandhar. The Delhi-based suspects were Rajveer, Anil, Dushyant and Rajkumar. Raids are being conducted to nab other members of the gang.
Sanjeev was earlier an investor for Punjabi music companies and ran a production house, but his business shut down due to Covid-19. He joined the gang after coming in contact with Rajveer. He used to get around Rs 50,000 for each client. Rajveer started off as a visa agent 10 years ago. He joined the gang after coming in contact with Anil.
Dushyant and Anil allegedly specialised in preparing fake visa stickers, while Rajkumar printed and designed the visas. Dushyant also coordinated with the kingpin, Ali. His mobile phone is being analysed. Lakhvinder worked as a visa agent for consultancy firms and was tasked with collection and deposit of documents for the gang. Read More.