A fake visa racket has been busted in Thane, arresting two persons for allegedly cheating nearly 50 people by issuing them false visa and air tickets. Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), Makarand Ranade said on Tuesday that two people have been held during a raid at the house of one of the accused in Mumbra and seized 89 passports, 62 visas, a laptop and two mobiles from them.
According to police, the six members of the racket ran a fake job recruitment centre in Mumbra and told the victims that they would get them jobs as ground staffers at Dubai and Kuwait airports. Thane police on Saturday received a complaint from one of the victims, stating that she was cheated by a job recruitment firm, which extracted Rs. 50,000 from her and assured visa and air ticket. But later, she found after reaching the airport in Mumbai that the visa and air ticket was fake.
The complainant said many people from Thane, Mumbra and nearby places have been duped in a similar fashion by the accused.
The gang began operation in March 2016 and since then, they have so far cheated nearly 50 people. They collected Rs. 50,000 from each person and gave them fake visa and air tickets to Dubai and Kuwait, Ranade said. The accused in this manner collected Rs. 24.71 lakh, he said.
The accused were identified as Salauddin alias Bablu Nepali, 44, a Mumbra resident, and Ajgar Ali alias Javed Sayyed, 51, who is from Powai in neighbouring Mumbai.
A case has been lodged under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using a forged document as genuine), rw 34 (common intention).
