MUMBAI, 6 December 2007 — Mumbai police busted an immigration racket, arresting seven people, including two Jet Airways air hostesses, who had been arranging illegal visas to the US.
The arrests were led by Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch, which said 72 other air hostesses working for different national and international airlines, are currently under watch.
Rakesh Marai, joint commissioner of police, told a press conference the arrested air hostesses would pose as the wives of illegal immigrants and obtain US visas by providing forged documents.
The air hostesses include Aliya Abbasali Rizvi, 24, the other has not been named. Others arrested include Rajesh Kumar Trivedi, 32, Rajesh Gemlawala, 43, Yusuf Akram Baig, 27 and Altaf Hussain Shaikh, 60 — the kingpin.
Dhananjay Jadhav, Mumbai police commissioner, said the gang had arranged for 35 people to go to London and that 18 passports were found in their possession. He added that the racket came to light when Crime Branch Inspector Ramesh Mahale was tipped off that some people would be coming to the US Consulate with forged documents to get visas.
A police team laid a trap and arrested Rizvi, Trivedi and Gemlawala on Nov. 26. Their interrogations led to the arrests of the other members of the gang the next day.
The gang was trying to ferry Rajiv Trivedi, a businessman from Ahmedabad, to the US. It was also mentioned that the air hostesses had previously applied for visas for their relatives to go to the US. A Crime Branch official said that the air hostesses used to undergo fake marriages and seek visas for people citing them as immediate relatives.
Trivedi, a computer professional, had reportedly paid 2 million rupees for a passport and visa, and was to pose as Rizvi’s husband. The air hostess, who claimed in her application that she was newly wed and wanted to honeymoon in the US, had been promised 1.8 million rupees once Trivedi successfully arrives in the US.
Following the arrest, Mumbai police have put similar applications by 72 other air hostesses, seeking to take relatives to the US, under watch.
Crime Branch officials also contacted the Indian High Commission in London on Nov. 18, after being informed that a man called Ramprakash Kapur and his wife Pawan had flown to the UK on forged passports and visas. The Indian High Commission then alerted the immigration authorities at Heathrow Airport, who detained and deported the couple back to Mumbai, where they were arrested on arrival.
“Airlines can’t be blamed for their staff’s handiwork. That air hostesses are a conduit for such scams show individual entrepreneurial spirit,” said Marai, adding that the gang was charging 1,000,000 rupees for a UK visa and 2 million rupees for a US visa.
