Gujarat CID arrests 3 immigration agents for forging visa applicants’ documents

The CID conducted raids at 17 locations across Gujarat on December 15, uncovering suspicious materials at the premises of ‘Future Planning Visa Consultancy’ in Gandhinagar’s Kudasan area

The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Gujarat Police on Wednesday arrested three persons associated with an immigration consultancy firm for allegedly “fabricating bank account statements and education mark sheets” for visa applicants, said an official. The accused were arrested from Gadhinagar.

(Representative Photo)

According to an official statement by the state CID (Crime and Railways), the trio used to prepare counterfeit bank statements for their clients and submitted these forged documents with visa applications to expedite approval processes.

Embassy officials routinely scrutinize bank statements to verify that visa applicants meet the financial prerequisites for their intended stay in the destination country. The fraudulent scheme involved creating misleading financial documents to give the impression that applicants possessed sufficient funds in their accounts to support their visit, said the official mentioned above.

The CID received inputs from the intelligence that individuals were securing student visas and work permits, particularly for countries like the US and Canada, by submitting falsified bank documents and counterfeit certificates. Acting on this information, the CID conducted raids at 17 locations across Gujarat on December 15, uncovering suspicious materials at the premises of ‘Future Planning Visa Consultancy’ in Gandhinagar’s Kudasan area.

During the raid, authorities seized a laptop, mobile phone, pen drive, and a computer hard disk. These items were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Gandhinagar for analysis. The FSL’s examination revealed forged account statements from various banks stored on a mobile phone belonging to one of the accused, as per the release.

Subsequently, based on the FSL report, the CID registered a case and arrested the trio on Wednesday.

Based on the report from the FSL. the CID arrested Avkash Chaudhary, Sahil Patel, and Krunal Varia on Wednesday and registered a case against the accused trio for criminal conspiracy and forgery under sections 120-b, 467, and 468 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

These arrests follow closely on the heels of a recent incident where a chartered Airbus A340, carrying 276 passengers, landed in Mumbai after being grounded in France for suspected human trafficking.

Notably, many of the passengers on the plane were from Gujarat. In light of these developments, local police plan to collaborate with arriving passengers in Gujarat from Mumbai to identify involved agents and agencies, as well as to ascertain whether the documents provided for migration to the US and other countries were forged, CID said.