NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has busted a Tamil Nadu-based fake French visa racket, arresting a key agent from the southern state. Three passengers have also been detained at immigration with counterfeit visas, officials said on Tuesday.
According to the police, on October 28, three Indian passengers, all residents of Tamil Nadu, reported at the departure immigration counter at IGI airport Terminal-3 seeking clearance to Paris in France. During scrutiny, the French D-type visas affixed on their passports were found to be counterfeit and lacked essential security features. Based on these facts, a case under relevant provisions of the BNS and Passport Act was registered at PS IGI Airport.
It was revealed that the fake visa of one of them was arranged by his brother in lieu of Rs six lakh, whereas the counterfeit visas of the other two were arranged by an agent based in Namakkal District for Rs 12 lakh each.
During the investigation, agent V Kannan (55), a resident of Tamil Nadu, was arrested. Kannan confessed to his involvement and disclosed that he runs a government-affiliated institute at Paramathi and also operates an overseas education consultancy named “Vetri Overseas” at Velur, a senior police officer said.
With the help of co-accused agent Sathik Syed, alias Abdul Hakim of Madurai, he lured at least 16 job aspirants for warehouse jobs in Paris. Fake visas were arranged after interviewing the applicants. Some money was taken through bank transfers and some through cash, the officer said. The search for his associate is on, he added.
