SRINAGAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch, Jammu, has filed a chargesheet against five persons for allegedly cheating unemployed youth on the pretext of arranging work visas for overseas employment, including New Zealand.
The chargesheet was filed on Saturday before the Court of the Excise Magistrate, Jammu, in connection with a case registered last year, a Crime Branch spokesperson said on Sunday.
The accused have been identified as Vijay Gill, Harris Gill and Mandeep Singh, all residents of Samba district, and Tirlochan Singh and Ravinder Singh, both residents of Punjab.
According to the spokesperson, the case concerns an alleged international visa fraud racket in which unemployed youth were targeted with false promises of securing overseas employment.
The investigation followed a written complaint by Vishal Kumar, a resident of Rajpura village in Samba, who alleged that Harris Gill and his uncle Vijay Gill had cheated him of Rs 11.62 lakh on the pretext of arranging a work visa for New Zealand.
The accused allegedly provided the complainant with a fabricated visa and fake flight tickets before luring him to Delhi, where he was allegedly manipulated and eventually forced to return without achieving his intended purpose.
The spokesperson said the investigation established evidence of a syndicate operating across Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, allegedly targeting unemployed job aspirants through fraudulent overseas employment offers.
Technical surveillance, analysis of bank statements and an official verification report from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) were among the evidence collected during the investigation. The MEA report confirmed that the New Zealand visa document was entirely inauthentic, he said.
Forensic examination also scientifically authenticated the signature of accused Vijay Gill on the primary agreement, the spokesperson added.
The Crime Branch said the chargesheet had been filed on the basis of oral, documentary, financial and scientific evidence collected during the investigation, identifying all five accused in the alleged racket.
