Man with fake Canadian visa held at KIA

The city police have unearthed a fake visa racket after a 34-year-old electrician from Tamil Nadu was arrested by immigration officials after he landed at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) from Kuala Lumpur with fake Canadian visa on Saturday.

The accused, identified as Tamilselvan, was handed over to the BIAL police, who booked him under forgery and cheating. He was later produced before the magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.

Malaysian cops contacted

The police said they have sent a letter to their Malaysian counterparts to deport four others who are said to be in Kuala Lumpur and also involved in the fake visa racket.

During the interrogation, Tamilselvan claimed that he was working as an electrician in Canada for British Petroleum for the past two years and returned home on vacation.

Police said that a Chennai-based travel agent, identified as Vijaya Prathaban Jothi and the kingpin of the scam, had promised better jobs in Canada to Tamilselvan and three others - Krishna Murthy Ananda Shankar, Ramalingam Venkatesan and Selvakumar Muthukrishnan for a sum of Rs 4.5 lakh.

As part of the deal, the four had to pay him Rs 1.8 lakh initially and the rest of the amount after reaching Canada and confirming their job.

Accordingly, Jothi sent the four to Indonesia on April 3 with fake Canadian visas. From Indonesia, they proceeded to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on May 3. But the accused ended up being stranded in Kuala Lumpur as they didn’t have flight tickets. However, Tamilselvan had to return to India since the validity of his tourist visa expired.

Efforts are on to nab Jothi while alerts have been sent to all airports to nab the other three when they land in India.