Cops nab fraud for cheating Nepali couple of ₹27 lakh promising UK job

The fraud introduced herself as a ‘senior visa counsellor’ and assured the victim a job and a visa for London

Mumbai: A senior visa counsellor from a private company has been arrested for allegedly cheating a Nepali couple of nearly ₹27 lakh by promising them a job in London and a visa.

Cops nab fraud for cheating Nepali couple of ₹27 lakh promising UK job

According to the Kandivali police, the accused, Akanksha Rajendra Tiwari, is being interrogated by the police, while the private company’s owner, Rohit Sonagra, has also been named a co-accused in the case. The police suspect that Tiwari’s arrest may lead to similar frauds she may have committed on other unsuspecting people.

The police said that the complainant, Vikas Vidurkumar Khatiwada from Nepal, runs a business as a consultant for engineering firms. Since his wife Monika Dahal wanted to work in London, Khatiwada was trying to find agencies in Mumbai that would provide such a job and facilitate the necessary visa.

In June 2024, Dahal came across a private company on social media with had posted several success stories of having provided jobs to people wanting to work in the UK, Canada, Australia, and other European countries. Dahal came across Tiwari when she tried contacting the private company with the listed mobile numbers. Tiwari introduced herself as a ‘senior visa counsellor’ and assured Dahal a job and a visa for London.

The police said that Tiwari met Dahal and her husband at Raghulila Mall in Kandivali where the couple was told that they costs for the work visa and the dependent visa would come to at least £25,000 (over ₹29 lakh) and the process would require an advance payment of ₹2 lakh.

The couple not only paid the ₹2 lakh, but from June 2024 and May 2025 they transferred another ₹25 lakh to Tiwari and were in constant contact with Tiwari and Sonagra. The accused duo promised them that their visas were being processed and Dahal would soon receive the appointment letter for the job, but no updates followed and they soon began avoiding the couple.

The couple told the police that when they tried to follow up, they found that the private company’s office in Kandivali had shut down and shifted to Malad instead, but there too they could not find Tiwari.

The couple finally approached the police in June this year and an embezzlement and fraud case was registered against the accused duo. The police then began a search for the absconding Tiwari and Sonagra and finally arrested Tiwari on Sunday. During interrogations she confessed that she had committed the fraud with Sonagra’s help, and was remanded to police custody by a local court in Borivli.

“We are tracing Rohit at present and will arrest him as soon as he is found,” said an officer from Kandivali police station.