The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the Deputy Central Intelligence Officer, who is an accused in the visa fraud case, to surrender before the Chengamanad police in Ernakulam.
Justice P Bhavadsan issued the directive while considering the anticipatory bail plea of Srinivasa Rao, Deputy Intelligence Officer, Bhopal. Srinivasa Rao had been arraigned as an accused in the case registered by the Chengamanad police in connection with the employment of two persons deported to India from South Africa in 2006. The charges are under IPC 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and the offences under the Passport Act.
The prosecution submitted that the petitioner was responsible for stamping fake visas on the passports of three persons, who had paid a huge amount of money for obtaining a job in South Africa. The victims were offered jobs in a super market in South Africa.
The first accused Preethi Mathew and the second accused Vinod, who received huge amounts, handed over the passports to the third accused Antish David.
“He in turn got in touch with the petitioner and made the payment for stamping the visa on the passports of the victims,” the prosecution said.
When the job aspirants reached Johannesburg, they were detained and it was found that their visas were forged. The police said that the petitioner had close contact with Ram Mohan who was involved in the visa racket. Ram was allowed to use the bank account of the petitioner’s daughter and her residence address for receiving the communications. The court pointed out that the petitioner had questioned on several occasions and his statement had been recorded. So the court asked the police to produce the officer before the Judicial First Class Magistrate after his surrender and it also directed the magistrate to grant bail.
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