Navy officers were kingpins of visa racket, say cops; court extends police custody

The two Navy officers arrested in an alleged visa racket case were the "kingpins" of the crime, police told a court in Mumbai on July 5 while seeking extension of their remand.

The magistrate's court extended the police custody of Lieutenant Commander Vipin Dagar and Sub Lieutenant Braham Jyoti till July 9.

They were allegedly part of a syndicate that helped obtain visas for Indians seeking to work illegally in South Korea, the crime branch of city police has claimed.

Besides the two Navy officers, Simran Teji, Ravi Kumar and Deepak Mehra alias Dogra are the other accused held in the case.

All five were produced before additional chief metropolitan magistrate Vinod Patil after their earlier custody ended.

While seeking extension of the police remand, the police told the court that the two naval personnel were the kingpins of the racket.

Dagar and Jyoti purchased a stamp-making machine from Visakhapatnam when they were posted there and used it to make forged documents needed for visa applications, they said.

The accused had also sent people to countries other than South Korea by using forged documents, the remand plea said, adding that this becomes clear from the inflow of money in their bank accounts.

Police wanted their custody for another four days for confronting them with each other, it said.

Advocate Ravi Jadhav, appearing for Dagar, opposed further police custody for him arguing that he had been falsely implicated and there was no documentary evidence against him.

Jyoti's lawyer advocate Rohan Sonawane said the police had enough time for his interrogation as he was in their custody for five days.

Police has already seized a mobile phone, two SIM cards, pen drives, multiple debit cards and other documents, and his custody was not required for further probe, the lawyer said.

Advocate Ajay Dubey, appearing for Mehra, said he was only an agent who forwarded passports, and played no role in the visa fraud.

The court, after hearing both the sides, extended the police custody of Dagar, Jyoti and Mehra till July 9, while Teji and Kumar were sent in 14-day judicial custody.

As per the police, the gang managed to send at least eight persons to South Korea over the last one year but two of them were sent back to India.