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Travel agent Brijesh Mishra arrested in Canada for immigration fraud faces 10 FIRs in Punjab
Mishra, who had been on the run since the scandal came to fore earlier this year, was caught by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) when he was trying to sneak into the country illegally, according to a report in Toronto Star.
Wanted Punjab-origin travel agent Brijesh Mishra, who is accused of duping nearly 700 Indian students by giving them fake admission letters from colleges to secure study visas, was arrested and charged in Canada on Saturday.
Mishra, who had been on the run since the scandal came to fore earlier this year, was caught by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) when he was trying to sneak into the country illegally, according to a report in Toronto Star.
The CBSA was probing the immigration scam by Mishra’s Jalandhar-based firm, Education and Migration Services, and filed five charges including those for counselling misrepresentation, misrepresentation and unauthorised representation or advice for consideration, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. He is believed to be in pre-trial detention in British Columbia, according to a Canadian source.
“Following information provided to the CBSA concerning Mr. Mishra’s status in Canada, as well his alleged involvement in activities related to counseling misrepresentation, the Agency launched an investigation,” a CBSA release said.
“The charges announced today by the CBSA’s Pacific Region Criminal Investigations Section reflect our commitment to maintaining the integrity of Canada’s immigration system,” CBSA’s regional director general, Pacific region, Nina Patel said.
Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendocino said, “Our government is taking action against those who are responsible for fraud, while protecting those who’ve come here to pursue their studies.”
Nearly 700 students were issued deportation notices over fraudulent offer letters that had been provided to them by Mishra while processing their study visas.
Last week, Canadian immigration minister Sean Fraser had announced to freeze the deportation notices to the students, terming them “victims of fraud” besides forming a committee to look into each case.
Jaspreet Singh, an international student activist, said Mishra’s arrest would help students present their case before the Canadian authorities in a proper manner. “The future of 700 students is at stake. Now, the Canadian authorities will get information first hand on how Mishra managed to cheat so many gullible students over the years,” he said.
Toronto-based lawyer Sumit Sen, who is working with several of these students, said that they will ask for a court-ordered appearance so that Mishra can be cross-examined during ongoing hearings for the cases related to fraudulent documentation.
Lookout circular against Mishra in India
Following the scam, Punjab Police registered three first information reports (FIRs) against Mishra and his accomplices Rahul Bhargav and Gurnam Singh on March 17 and 27. Police arrested Bhargav, a resident of Jalandhar, on March 27, while Brijesh and Gurnam remain on the run.
The cases were registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 465 (for making forged documents), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Jalandhar police commissioner Kuldeep Singh Chahal said they received only three complaints against Mishra based on which the cases were registered.
“We have already issued a lookout circular (LOC) against Mishra. According to our information, he shut all operations in Jalandhar and fled several months ago,” Chahal said.
The Jalandhar district administration has also cancelled the licence of Mishra’s immigration firm under Sections 4 and 6 of the Punjab Travel Professionals Regulation Act, 2014, which invokes cancellation of licence, if found involved in any criminal activity.
Over 10 FIRs against accused in Punjab
Mishra, who belongs to Thalwada in Darbhanga, Bihar, has been named in more than 10 FIRs registered in police stations of Jalandhar, Faridkot and Malerkotla districts.
Mishra launched Easy Way Immigration Consultancy in 2013 but months later in 2014, he was caught committing fraud with students. His clout can be gauged from the fact that he either managed to strike a compromise with the complainant or ensure no action was taken against him. He was booked at Jaito in Faridkot and Malerkotla in 2021 and 2022, respectively, but no action was taken against him.
Deep-rooted immigration nexus
The fact that 700 students, who studied and worked in Canada for six years, are now facing deportation because they procured Canadian study permit on the basis of fake offer letters provided by Mishra’s firm, shows how deep-rooted the immigration nexus is.
Mishra’s Education and Migration Services sent the students to Canada on fake offer letters between 2016 and 2020. The students, who spent between ₹10 lakh and ₹30 lakh to go abroad, were not aware that they had paid for forged offer letters on which they got the study visa.
The fraud came to light only when the students applied for permanent residency and the CBSA found discrepancies and zeroed in on Mishra.
The students said the offer letters looked “so genuine” that even Canadian high commission officials did not find anything amiss.
It was only on arriving and visiting their respective colleges that they found that they were not registered in the institutions concerned. When they contacted Mishra, he made up excuses and got them enrolled in other colleges or asked them to wait a semester.
According to the Canadian education policy, international students can change their college or university and even course on reaching Canada, a clause Mishra exploited.
