Four Complaints of Visa Fraud Registered in Punjab

Four separate police complaints related to visa fraud were filed by victims at Mohali, Punjab. The complainants allege that travel agents took considerable amounts of money from them on the pretext of providing visa, which never materialized.

Eight travel agents have been named in the four cases, according to the Times of India. They have been booked by the police for fraudulence under the Punjab Travel Professionals’ Regulation Act- 2014 and the Immigration Act. One of the agents was arrested by the police in Mohali.

The cases involved the agents allegedly duping visa aspirants for a minimum of Rs 1 lakh. Shekhar Raidy, a Hyderabad resident, was allegedly cheated of Rs 15.63 lakh. Raidy complained against Davinder Singh and Sukhwinder Singh of Global IT Service and Placement, and said that he gave the amount to them for getting a work visa to Australia, the report added.

He added in his complaint that neither was he sent to Australia nor did he get his money back from the agents. The police booked the duo under sections of Indian Penal Code related to forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy, among others.

In another case, Avtar Singh of Hoshiarpur accused Davinder Singh of Silver City Themes for visa fraud of Rs 4 lakh. The victim submitted before the police that he paid the amount to Davinder Singh for getting a visa to South Africa, which never came.

Similarly, a resident of Una, Punjab, registered a complaint against three persons of Paper Way Immigration Consultancy for duping him of Rs 1 lakh on the pretext of providing a visa. The complainant said that Amit Kumar, Harry and Harman of the agency had promised to arrange a visa of Canada for him, which turned out to be false.

In an another incident, police raided an immigration agency named Best Hand Immigration Consultancy and arrested its owner Pradeep Kumar for running the center without license. He was booked under Section 420, 120-b of IPC and Section 24 of Immigration Act, as per the publication.

Recently, the Australian High Commission had warned visa aspirants against a new visa scam allegedly perpetrated by a Delhi-based firm, after over 50 persons contacted the embassy, claiming that they paid considerable amounts to an agency to get Australian visa.