Delhi Police on Tuesday claimed to bust a fake visa racket, which was also involved in sending Bangladeshi immigrants abroad, resulting in the arrest of four members.
Police said that the accused were involved in preparing counterfeit visa stickers and temporary residence cards for various countries. According to the police, they also recovered Bangladeshi passports from their office and it is believed that they might have sent these immigrants abroad from India.
The police recovered around 25 passports, 50 fake visa stickers, five temporary residence cards, 14 rubber stamps/seals, four mobile phones, and two pen drives from them. “Equipment used to produce these fraudulent documents, including UV light machines, blank sticker papers, rubber stamps, and seals, were also seized,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Devesh Mahla said.
The case to fore after the police took action after Lakhveer Singh lodged a complaint on December 16 at Chanakya Puri Police Station, claiming he and his friends were deceived by 25 year old Paramjeet Singh alias Sahil, who promised to secure German visas for them at a cost of Rs 8 lakh each. They came in contact through the social media platform Instagram.
Singh was arrested near the Kuwait Embassy in Chanakya Puri, and further investigation led to the arrest of three other gang members including 51 years old Tajinder Singh alias Sweety alias Lucky, 67 years old Sunil Kumar Sood, and 42 year old Uday Pal Singh alias Raja alias Sonu.
The police said that the gang had a sophisticated operation for producing fake visas, including a laptop, printer, UV light machine, and other materials seized from Uday Pal Singh's home. “Analysis of the laptop and pen drive revealed 8.5 GB of data containing fake visa stickers, indicating the gang may have defrauded many individuals across the country,” the DCP said.
“A case has been registered at the Chanakya Puri Police Station under section 318 (4) (Cheating), 336 (3) (Forgery of valuable security), 340 (2) (Forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine) and 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) and the investigation is ongoing to determine the full scale of the racket's operations,” the officer said. He added that Sood, a resident of Subhash Nagar, was first arrested in 2003 in a visa fraud case. “In 2018, he started working as a middleman for arranging fake visa stickers to earn money and came in contact with Tajender Singh,” the DCP said.
