New Delhi, Dec 25: Police today claimed to have busted a racket involved in obtaining visas through fraudulent means, with the arrest of five persons including a Spanish national.
Anand Malkani, Upkar Singh, Satish Rattu and Maxaon Tito, all residents of Delhi, were caught from Lajpat Nagar on December 17, while Spanish national Gerardo Morante Mendez was arrested the next day, police said.
Twelve passports, two laptops, one visa sticker, a Santro car and some other “incriminating” documents were seized from them, they said.
The racket allegedly used to assist migration of Indian nationals to Spain and other European countries by providing them ‘Schengen visa’ obstained through fraudulent means.
Tito used to lure people aspiring to migrate to Spain or European counrtries, while Rattu used to prepare forged documents. Malkani was leader of the racket, and he coordinated with Spanish national Gerardo, who obtained the visas on the basis of forged documents through a diplomat in the Spanish embassy, a senior police officer said.
He, however, clarified that there was “nothing so far” to suggest the Spanish official (diplomat) was also part of the racket or was even aware of the fact that Geraldo was obtaining ‘Schengen visa’ through him by fraudulent means.
Investigation is on to asertain how many visas the gang procured from the Spain embassy by fraudulent means. Efforts are also on to identify and locate the people who got the visas through the racket, the officer said.
Priliminary probe has revealed that the racket was operating for the last seven years in various parts of the country, especially Punjab, police said.
–PTI