The Delhi police has arrested six people including an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) coach, a businessman and two agents for allegedly forging immigration stamps and tampering with Indian passports.
A total of 62 passports and 28 fake stamps were recovered from the possession of the gang, three of whom were arrested from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi on Sunday.
The Delhi police has identified the offenders as Saurav, an IELTS coach, Vicky, a herbal products businessman and two agents Sachin Kumar and Mukesh Goyal.
They have further revealed that a couple, Ravinder Singh and his wife Sunita Kumari, who intended to travel to Canada, were also apprehended for getting fake immigration stamps on their passports.
In a press release, Sanjay Bhatia, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), IGI Airport said that the inquiry in the matter was initiated after input was received about suspected 'fake' immigration stamps on the passports of an Indian couple at the airport.
"On the intervening night of March 1 and 2, a complaint was received about suspected fake and forged Indian immigration stamp in respect of two Indian nationals namely Sunita Kumari and Ravinder Singh who were seeking departure to Canada on the strength of Canadian visit visa by Air Canada," Mr Bhatia was quoted as saying in a press release.
While going through their travel documents, the police discovered that the immigration stamps affixed on the couple's passport were fake and had been forged to make them look like frequent foreign travellers.
The police revealed that the couple wanted to migrate to Canada and were introduced to an agent named Vicky, through a common friend. He charged them $12,000 on the promise of arranging their Canadian visas.
Following which, Vicky's accomplice Sachin Kumar, another agent took the couple to Chandigarh in north India and arranged for their visas. He reportedly got hold of fake immigration stamps for the duo to strengthen their travel history.
Mr Kumar then led to the arrest of another agent named Mukesh Goyal who he alleged was the one who helped him in affixing the fake stamps on the couple's passports. According to the police, Mr Goyal used to procure fake stamps from an IELTS coach named Saurav.
During interrogation, Mr Goyal told the police that he had made over 20 fake immigration and bank stamps for Saurav and his aides.
Explaining the nexus, DCP Bhatia said in the press statement that the chain would start from Vicky who's main job was to attract clients on the promise of arranging their visas and send them over to agent Kumar on the pretext of preparing their files.
Mr Kumar would then get fake stamps affixed on their travel documents using Saurav's contacts to create a sham travel trajectory of the intended travellers as this would assist them in procuring a visa.
Fake bank stamps were also used to show finances, the police said.
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