Fake visas: Man held for cheating 50 people

Delhi Police on Friday arrested a 35-year-old man who had escaped the Mumbai immigration team after he was detained for allegedly duping several on the pretext of providing them visa. Police said the man has cheated more than 50 people of crores.

Police identified the suspect as Santosh Bhagwan Behera, a resident of Mumbai. According to police, on January 30 this year, a passenger who had arrived at the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport to travel to Poland, was detained when he was found carrying a fake visa.

Deputy commissioner of police (IGIA) Sanjay Bhatia said the passenger’s questioning revealed that one Ranjeet Kumar Mukherjee from Darbhanga in Bihar had introduced him to two agents Behera and a man named Raj Sharma who could help him go abroad on work visa.

“The passenger said that he and five others met the two agents and Mukherjee at a hotel in Aerocity in January. They took around ₹10 lakh from them and were given fake visas,” Bhatia said.

During investigation, police found that a similar case is registered in Kolkata against Behera, Sharma and a few others. “In that case, almost 25-30 persons had been cheated. During our probe, we found that the suspects were named as accused in a few cases registered in Navi Mumbai also,” the DCP said.

During investigation the police checked CCTV footage of the hotel in Delhi’s Aerocity. “Bank and call detail records were also analysed. The suspects were seen in the CCTV and they were identified. After getting some clues look out circular was issued against Behera and his another aide identified as Mahesh Ramchander Lokhande,” he said.

The officer said, following surveillance, Behra was apprehended by the immigration staff of Mumbai Airport, but he managed to escape from their custody and fled the airport.

“Finally on Friday Behera was arrested from Mumbai by our team. The Kolkata and Mumbai Police have also been informed about the arrest of the accused,” the DCP said.