UK citizen held at Bengaluru airport after Sri Lankan national travels to London using his boarding pass

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru airport police have registered a case after immigration officials, along with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, caught a UK citizen for handing over his boarding pass to a Sri Lankan national, allowing him to travel to London illegally.

The arrested suspect is Kandiah Rajagopal, a businessman who was originally scheduled to travel to London aboard the Virgin Atlantic flight VS-347 at 7.20 am on January 18. However, he was instead at the SHA (Security Hold Area) of the International Departure section. CISF personnel informed the immigration officials and he was detained.

At 5.30 pm, Rajagopal was brought to the immigration section. Further inquiries revealed that another person, Sharusan Kunasekaran, a Sri Lankan citizen, had travelled using Rajagopal’s boarding pass. Kunasekaran was supposed to travel to Singapore on the IndiGO flight 6E-1009 at 10.20 am on January 18.

“There is a suspicion that the UK citizen gave his boarding pass to Sri Lankan citizen Sharusan Kunasekaran, and it is found that the said Sharusan Kunasekaran travelled to London, UK, via Virgin Atlantic flight number VS-347 using the same boarding pass,” notes the FIR quoting the complainant immigration officer.

Sources said that following the alert, Kunasekaran was detained in London and would be deported to Sri Lanka for illegal entry. A full-scale inquiry is underway to identify the motive behind the exchange of the boarding pass and whether there was a possible human trafficking or a job fraud angle, police sources told DH.