Racket sending Nepalis abroad on fake visit visas busted

Kathmandu, Dec. 14: In another successful operation, Nepal Police has succeeded in busting a racket of 32 members allegedly involved in exploiting visit visas and forging documents to send Nepalis overseas as migrant workers.

Going after layers of investigation and verification, the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office (KVCIO), Min Bhawan, arrested 32 members of the racket from October 6 to December 13 this year. Of them, three were held on Wednesday. 

They have been charged for preparing fake documents and sending Nepalis abroad on visit visas.

Among the arrested also included an officer of the Department of Immigration, some employees of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) and travel agency operators. 

Organising a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, the police made them public.

Speaking at the press conference, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and In-charge of the Office, Somendra Singh Rathore, said that the racket, which forged documents and sent the Nepali nationals abroad on visit visas, were arrested and necessary actions against them have been initiated. 

Of the arrested, six are consultancy operators, one policeman, one ex-policeman, two officials from the NAC and 11 others involved in the racket in various capacities.  

SSP Rathore said that nine are being investigated for organised crime and 12 are being investigated for criminal offences. Eight have already been released on bail. 

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Govind Panthi, among the arrested ones are Narabir Khadka, an officer at the Department of Immigration, and Nepal Airlines employees Arvin Yadav and Hom Pokharel. 

Manu Raj Chaudhary, owner of Ontra Trip Online Travels, Ram Prasad Bhandari, owner of H.R. Tours and Travels, Saroj Yadav, owner of A.N.T Holidays and Travels, Dinesh Gyawali, owner of SKJ Travels, and Dev Raj Khanal, owner of Relevant Travels, have been arrested. 

Ganesh Pandey, the owner of Advanced Management Multi Training Centre, has also been arrested.

According to the police, it was revealed during the investigation that travel agencies charged Rs. 15,000 per person and the employees of the immigration department charged Rs. 55,000 for new ones, and Rs. 40,000 for the regulars. 

SSP Rathore said that these gang members were arrested based on the investigation carried into 296 fake police reports, fake labour approvals, fake certificates of grade XII, and fake relationship verification certificates.

According to Rathore, other arrested include Jaya Ram Shrestha of Madhyabindu Municipality of Nawalpur district, Bhakta Bahadur Thapa of Gorkha, Bipin Dhakal of Barpak, Gorkha, Ajit Fewali of Gorkha, Ashish Shrestha of Belaka, Udayapur, Jeevan Ram Tamang of Kavrepalanchwok, Cyrus Bishankhe of Kathmandu, Deepak K.C. of Kathmandu and Bal Bahadur Rawat of Salyan.

The policeman arrested during the investigation was 30-year-old Ashish Shrestha of Udayapur. 

SSP Rathore said that some applicants (victims) were not even aware of the fact that the gang sent them abroad on visit visas, making fake documents. 

The investigation revealed that money was given to fly abroad, but they were not informed that they were sent abroad on fake visas.

The police also recovered 296 documents including fake educational certificates from the arrested persons.

During the investigation, it was found that Deepak KC, who was arrested, ordered Bhakta Bahadur Thapa to make fake documents by taking photos of passports collected from various persons through WhatsApp, charging Rs. 10,000 per person.