4 Chinese nationals imprisoned for 5 years by court in Uttarakhand’s Champawat

The court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) in Uttarakhand’s Champawat district awarded five-year jail terms to four Chinese nationals on Tuesday for committing fraud, forgery and violation of Passport and Foreign Act.

Assistant prosecution officer Vijay Rai said the four Chinese nationals and a Tibetan were held by immigration officials while crossing the international border illegally on July 27, 2019. They were on their way to Nepal on a Nepalese bus attached to the Indo-Nepal friendly bus service between Delhi and Kathmandu, but were held in Banbasa.

On suspicion, immigration officials questioned their identities and checked their documents. They produced voter IDs obtained from different parts of Delhi and claimed to be Tibetans. When their documents were checked by the immigration officer, they failed to produce passports and valid visas for staying in India. Their voter IDs were also found fake.

The immigration officials took all the foreigners into their custody. They were identified as Jinchong Liao, Haiping Ni, Shunzhen Weng and Guangcan Wang, residents of different cities in China and Khentse Sengye of Tibet.

During questioning, the Chinese revealed they had come to India in 2018 but were caught for gold smuggling in Mumbai. They wanted to flee to their country through Nepal with the help of the Tibetan Sengye. They arrived in Delhi by train and from there they travelled on a Nepalese bus to reach Kathmandu.

“They were sent to jail but later obtained bail from the Uttarakhand high court. Meanwhile, Tibetan Sengye died here due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Rai said.

He said CJM court has also imposed a fine of ₹ 45,000 on each accused, he added.