NEW DELHI, Sept 15: Delhi Police on Sunday said it has has arrested seven people and claimed to have busted a gang of counterfeit visa operating in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar area.
A substantial quantity of equipment used in manufacturing fake visas along with 14 Nepalese and two Indian passports have been seized from the house of the main accused, they said.
The accused have been identified as — Manoj Monga (51), the main accused from Tilak Nagar, Shiva Gautam (42), Naveen Rana (25), Balbir Singh (65), Jaswinder Singh (55), Ashif Ali (27) and a passenger, Sandeep — police said.
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On the night of September 2, Sandeep from Haryana went to the departure immigration counter at Indira Gandhi International Airport here with an Indian passport, deputy commissioner of Police (DCP) (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani said.
He intended to depart for Rome in Italy, but during scrutiny of his documents a fake Swedish visa was found affixed on his passport and he was arrested, Rangnani said. Later, an investigation was launched after registering an FIR, she said.
Sandeep, who was looking to move abroad, had contacted Ashif Ali, a travel agent, police said.
Ali agreed to send Sandeep to a European country in lieu of Rs 10 lakh. Sandeep paid Rs 7 lakh in two bank accounts of the agent and paid Rs 50,000 in cash, they said.
Ali and his associates — Naveen Rana and Shiva Gautam — arranged tickets and a Swedish visa for Sandeep’s journey to Rome, the DCP said.
Ali, Rana and Gautam were arrested which led to the arrest of Balbir Singh and Jaswinder Singh, she said.
Police said that Jaswinder Singh disclosed the name of Manoj Monga, who is an expert in design and preparation of fake stickers.
Monga was arrested from his house in Tilak Nagar where he was running his fake visa business, they said.
According to police, five years ago, Monga came in contact with Jaideep Singh and they established an illegal factory for manufacturing fake visas at Monga’s house, police said.
Later, Monga also started providing fake appointment letters to his customers so that their visas look legitimate, she said.
Police said that 30 fake sticker visas issued in the names of different persons, 23 rubber stamps of various countries, three fake Permanent Residency (PR) cards of Italy, three wooden dyes of different embassies, four metal dyes of different countries, 14 original Nepalese passports, two original Indian passports and many other items were recovered from Monga’s house.
Further investigation in the case is underway and efforts are underway to nab the other associates, police added. (PTI)
