Two arrested for ₹26 lakh visa fraud in Noida

The police recovered 15 passports, 15 fake visas, 10 fake stamps for forging visas, five mobile phones and other items that were used in the fraud from the two suspects

Gautam Budh Nagar police on Saturday arrested two suspects for defrauding a man on the pretext of getting him an international visa and duping him of ₹26.40 lakh.

The two suspects have been booked under Section 420 (cheating) , 467 (forgery) and other relevant sections of the IPC. (Picture for representation)

The police recovered 15 passports, 15 fake visas, 10 fake stamps for forging visas, five mobile phones and other items that were used in the fraud.

According to the police, a complaint was registered on Friday by the victim Shiva, who is a travel agent. He said the two suspects took 15 passports and money and were not returning them back. The accused have been identified as Mukesh Kumar,(40), a resident of Mandawali in Delhi and Piyush Pandey,(42), a resident of Meerut.

“Shiva is a tour and travel agent who was in touch with 15 citizens of Nepal who wanted a visa to visit Portugal. Last month, he got in touch with the suspects on social media, where they promised to arrange the visas for ₹1.75 lakh each,” said assistant sub-inspector Kailash Nath, who is investigating the case at Sector 20 police station in Noida.

The victim gave ₹26.40 lakh to the suspects and 15 Nepali passports of his clients and asked them to arrange their visas for Portugal in March this year. The exchange happened in Noida, police said.

“When the accused did not return the passports nor gave back the money, Shiva registered a complaint at Sector 20 police station. The two suspects were arrested from Sector 18 underpass on Saturday morning,” said Manoj Kumar, in-charge of Sector 20 police station.

The two suspects have been booked under Section 420 (cheating) , 467 (forgery) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

“ ₹40,000 cash has been recovered from the two suspects along with other items and investigation is currently underway to find out if they have duped other people in a similar manner,” Kumar added.