TN-based fake French visa racket busted at IGI Airport; key agent held

new delhi: the delhi police has busted a tamil nadu-based racket allegedly involved in arranging counterfeit french visas for indian job seekers, an official said on tuesday.police arrested a key agent and detained three passengers at the indira gandhi international airport, he said.the incident came to light on october 28 when passengers naveeraj subramaniyam (23), prabhakaran senthilkumar (28) and mohan gandhi elangovan (38) reported for immigration clearance at terminal 3 for a flight to paris.during scrutiny, the french d-type visas on their passports were found to be fake and missing essential security features.“a case under provisions of the bharatiya nyaya sanhita and the passport act was registered at igi airport police station. naveeraj's fake visa was arranged by his brother for rs 6 lakh, while the others had paid rs 12 lakh each to an agent in namakkal,” the officer said.a team traced the agent, v kannan (55), of namakkal, and arrested him following technical surveillance.kannan, who runs a government-affiliated iti in paramathi and an overseas consultancy in velur, confessed to arranging fake visas with another agent, sathik syed alias abdul hakim of madurai, dcp (igi) vichitra veer said.he allegedly lured at least 16 aspirants with job promises in paris. efforts are on to trace his associate and others in the racket.according to the dcp, igi airport police arrested or booked 26 people, including six agents, in november in cases involving forged passports and visas. another 28 touts were nabbed for illegal activities at the airport.