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Crime branch busts gang that duped overseas job aspirants, arrests five
But, once the victim learnt about their modus operandi and started visiting the office and complaining of issuance of fake visas, they closed down the office on September 18 and opened another one in Sahar, Andheri East with a name - “Indian Overseas Placement Service” on October 10, added Roshan
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MUMBAI: The crime branch officials on Thursday busted an interstate gang and arrested five persons who allegedly conned more than 250 aspirants from across the country with fake employment offers from abroad. The gang members promised them jobs in Azerbaijan, Oman, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Russia and allegedly provided them fraudulent visas by charging between ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh from each person.
During investigation, the police learnt that the gang first opened an office in New Delhi in May this year but Delhi police raided their office, and a few of them managed to flee. They arrived in Mumbai and opened a new office in Ballard Pier in June, naming it “Bombay International Consultancy,” said deputy commissioner of police Raj Tilak Roshan of the crime branch.
But, once the victim learnt about their modus operandi and started visiting the office and complaining of issuance of fake visas, they closed down the office on September 18 and opened another one in Sahar, Andheri East with a name - “Indian Overseas Placement Service” on October 10, added Roshan.
The arrested accused are identified as Ramkripal Ramsevak Kushwaha, 45, who lives in Bhiwandi, Rohit Maheshwar Prasad Sinha, 33, a resident of Mumbai, Ashish Kumar Mungeshwar Mahato, 30, from Delhi and Amitosh Shravankumar Gupta, 40, and Rahul Kumar Shivan Chaudhary, 22, natives of Lucknow and Gaya in Bihar respectively.
The accused used fake names while interacting with the victims and therefore we are verifying their names and the aliases they used, said a police officer.
The police have seized 63 passports, seven forged visas for Azerbaijan, stickers and other documents, five computers and other equipment, a colour printer, five landline phones, seven mobile phones, an internet connection, router, 14 SIM cards of the various service providers, 10 debit cards of different banks, bank cheque books, passbooks and several letterheads of the firm.
During investigation it was found that the accused had committed two similar offences in Delhi earlier. Sinha was released from Delhi prison on bail on September 2 in a similar case and started operating from the city. Two other suspects wanted in the Mumbai case are still in the Delhi prison, said police inspector Ghanshyam Nair of unit 5.
The incident came to light last week when the victims found their visas were bogus, some of them approached the Mumbai crime branch and a case was registered in the MRA Marg police station. The crime branch unit 5 started investigation and zeroed in the Andheri office and identified the accused. They were arrested from different places in Mumbai in the case on Wednesday. They were produced in the court on Thursday and remanded in police custody till November 6.
Police are sending letters to the people whose passports have been recovered and their statement will be recorded and made a witness in their name. While police also appeal to the citizen if they were duped by these accused can approach the crime branch. The arrested accused target only job aspirants outside the state where they set up office. They approach the people by forming WhatsApp groups and through social media even through an agent by giving them 50% commissions.
