Gang stole identities for visas; 2 held

CHANDIGARH: UT police on Sunday claimed to have busted a gang that carried out identity information theft for tourist visa fraud. Cops arrested two men, Vikram Sharma and Viney Chadha.
Officials of special investigation team revealed that accused used to take passports of applicants from outside the city. The gang would then find people of the same name in Chandigarh and gather all necessary documents of theirs, like bank statements, employment certificates and property papers, through the use of its contacts.Then the gang members would get visas made in the name of the outside applicants on the basis of documents belonging to their Chandigarh-based namesakes.
Police have identified 10-12 such cases. All local persons whose proofs of residence were used by the accused have denied having applied for tourist visa. The special investigation team had succeeded in finding the press where they got fake documents printed.
Sharma is a resident of Sector 20 and Chadha is from Baltana village of Mohali district. Police said that they charged Rs 5 lakh to 8 lakh for each visa. The accused used to keep all documents with them and would provide their own mobile numbers to concerned embassies with a motive to keep things secret.
They used seven or eight mobiles phones that were registered in the names of the others so their own identities were not revealed.
The role of some banks is also under scanner. Investigators has recovered one black Safari car, passports, scanner, laptops, letter pad, fake bank statements, school certificates and property papers from them. The links of both accused with colleges are being verified. Sharma is a postgraduate. He had joined as sub inspector in Central Industrial Security Force in the 1991 and served there till 1997. Chadha is BSc (medical) qualified. Previously, he worked as a lab technologist at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector-32, from 1996 to 2005.
A case of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy under sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of IPC has been registered in this regard.
The accused were produced before the area magistrate Anupamish Modi, who sent them in police remand till Tuesday. Investigation of the case is in progress and involvement of more persons is expected.