New Delhi, May 2 A 50-year-old man, who was in contact with some agents based in Israel, was arrested in West Bengal by a team of Delhi Police for allegedly duping people on the pretext of sending them abroad, an official said on Thursday.
The accused was identified as Ramesh Sharma, a resident of Alipurduar district in West Bengal.
The arrest was made following an investigation that was launched after a woman, identified as Anju Chhetri (39), arrived at IGI Airport, Delhi on April 3, as a deportee from Tel Aviv in Israel.
"On questioning and scrutiny of her documents, it was revealed that she had obtained her passport fraudulently by submitting fake/forged documents. On further questioning, her real identity was revealed as Hetalben, a resident of Gujarat," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani.
The passenger was also found in possession of one Aadhaar card and another copy was found in her phone, with the same UID number.
"One was issued from West Bengal and other from Gujarat, both bearing different names, date of birth and addresses," said the DCP.
During the probe, Hetalben disclosed that her sister-in-law had been working in Israel for many years and had asked her several times to come there.
"So, she also made a plan to go to Israel for a better livelihood and to also earn better. Thereafter, her sister-in-law asked her to visit Om Sai Caretaker Training Centre, Paharganj, Delhi for training," said the DCP.
Later, she visited the institute and met one lady, namely Richa Nanda there, who arranged her passport and all documents for her journey.
Nanda provided her the mobile phone number of Ramesh Sharma, and asked her to contact him.
"In April 2023, the accused lady met agent Ramesh, who promised to arrange her journey to Israel on someone else's identity in lieu of Rs 6 lakh," said the DCP.
Thereafter, agent Ramesh took her to Bagdogra in West Bengal, and with the help of his associates, arranged fake Aadhaar card for her in the name of 'Anju Chhetri' with an address of West Bengal and also arranged fake/forged documents i.e Voter I-Card & birth certificate at West Bengal address.
"After some time, the agent also arranged a passport for her from West Bengal on the basis of such fake documents. The agent also promised to arrange a job for her in Israel. The passenger revealed that on March 31, 2024, she took a flight from Delhi to Tel Aviv, but she was deported from there," said the DCP.
The DCP said that Nanda was arrested in the case, but Ramesh was absconding.
However, Ramesh was eventually nabbed from one of his hideouts in West Bengal.
On questioning, Ramesh disclosed that in 2020, he went to Israel where he came in contact with some agents who used to dupe people on the pretext of sending them abroad.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor