The Hindu : Kerala News : Visa cheating case: police suspect bigger racket

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Monday, Jul 21, 2008
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Kerala

Visa cheating case: police suspect bigger racket

Staff Reporter

One held for cheating 80 people in Pathanamthitta

Accused lodged in Pathanamthitta sub-jail
He trapped youths, allegedly offering job visa for Dubai and other Gulf nations

PATHANAMTHITTA: No fewer than 80 people at Thannithode, Chittar, Ranni and Konni in Pathanamthitta district have been cheated by an alleged visa racketeer, Manoj alias A.Muhammed of Kechery in Thrissur district, who is now lodged in the Pathanamthitta sub-jail.

The police said Manoj became Muhammed after converting to Islam.

He had chosen Chennai as the base for his ‘visa operations.’

His modus operandi was to trap unemployed youth, offering them ‘job visa’ in Dubai and other Gulf countries.

In a complaint submitted to the Chennai City Police Commissioner on June 30, a resident of Seethathode here alleged that Muhammed was working in liaison with another person from Chavakkad.

Sub-Inspector V.J. Jophy, who is investigating the case, said as many as 30 cases of visa cheating by Manoj had been registered at the Thannithode police station besides 33 cases at the Chittar police station.

These were besides 17 other complaints of visa cheating from Ranni and Konni.

The accused used to collect money ranging from Rs.20,000 to Rs.35,000 from people aspiring a job in the Middle East, promising them ‘job visa’.

Victims as ‘agents’

He even used certain victims as his ‘agents’ for canvassing people in their locality.

The accused collected money mostly from youths, promising them job at a reputed firm in Dubai.

The victims were asked to deposit money in the accounts operated by the accused at certain private banks in Chennai.

Manoj was arrested from Thrissur town on July 2 and was remanded in Pathanamthitta sub-jail.

The Thannithode SI took the accused to Chennai recently and found that the money paid by the victims had been credited to his account at the Avadi branch of Federal Bank, which he had withdrawn later.

Mr. Jophy said the accused collected Rs.8 lakh from different persons at Thannithode and Rs.11 lakh from 33 persons at Chittar.

More cases

He said the investigation team also found that cheating cases were pending against the accused at the Madikkery rural police station in Kasaragod and at the Nilamangala police station in Bangalore.

The police suspect a bigger network of visa racketeers behind the case and more arrests are likely in the coming days, Mr. Jophy said.

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