Three more arrested in fake visa racket

RAJKOT: Following the interrogation of Dhiren Patel arrested from Ahmedabad in the fake visa racket unearthed in Rajkot, three more persons have been arrested from Mumbai, for their involvement and presented in court of law on Monday.
The Detection of Crime Branch arrested two people last Sunday (December 21) and interrogated them for carrying 24 fake passports with Australian Consulate’s Visa Immigration stamp.
Later, police arrested Pragnesh Patel, Chinmay Patel, Pranav Patel and Sanjay Rathod from Rajkot on Monday (December 22), and Dhiren Patel on Tuesday (December 23).
It was learnt that Dhiren Patel and Pragnesh Patel ran a fullfledged office in Ahmedabad under the name of Visa Consultants to carry out their activities.
They had appointed Chinmay, Pranav and Sanjay of Rajkot as their agents. These men had accumulated over Rs 19 lakh from 24 unemployed youth who had shown interest to go to Australia.
An offence of forgery against all five vide IPC 465, 467, 468, 471, 474, 120B etc. had been registered and they were presented for remand in the court of law.
Dhiren admitted to involvement of three others from Mumbai, who were arrested by the DCB, and brought to Rajkot. Mohammad Yakub, Mohammad Abdul and Ashok Bandhi were arrested and a case of forgery against all three has been registered.
Police raided their establishments in Dongri and Thane area in Mumbai and brought the culprits to Rajkot.
Police has obtained remand for six days (till January 4, 2004), sub-inspector R R Gohil of DCB, Rajkot said. Dhiren and Pragnesh have confessed that they used to procure fake visa stickers from the above-mentioned people in Mumbai.