Hyderabad: Based on a tip-off, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) police, along with the Shamshabad special operations team (SOT), arrested two individuals in Nampally on Thursday for allegedly tampering with passports and visas, and illegally facilitating the travel of Emigration Check Required (ECR) passport holders to Gulf countries without mandatory Protector of Emigrants (POE) clearance or valid work contract documentation.
Police seized 14 tampered passports, 14 forged Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) medical certificates, 14 police clearance certificates, a laptop and 16 copies of round-trip flight tickets to Muscat.
The arrested were identified as Chilukuri Balaji of West Godavari district and Sunkara Shiva Kumar of Annamaya district, Andhra Pradesh. Others named in the case include Satyanarayana of West Godavari, Penegalapati Ramanjaneyulu of Asifnagar, Hyderabad, and Gopal from Rayachoti, Kadapa district.
The case surfaced following a complaint by Gandikota Venkata Ramana, a 38-year-old resident of West Godavari, who alleged she was deceived by the agents. She stated that she, along with seven other women, was misled into believing they were legally travelling to Kuwait via Muscat on valid tourist visas, despite holding ECR passports that require POE clearance.
At RGIA, immigration officials discovered her Kuwait visa had been stamped ‘cancelled’ inside the passport, revealing it had been tampered with.
Police said Balaji operated Srinivasa Global Recruits to lured job-seekers with high-paying employment in the Gulf. He was actively involved in tampering with passports and visas, procured through fraudulent channels, including sources operating from the Kuwait Consulate in Mumbai.
Once in possession of the work visas, police said, Balaji used forged rubber stamps to falsely mark them cancelled. They would be converted them into visit visas to evade detection at immigration counters, the police said. The victims were kept in hotels near Nampally; once preparations were complete, they were transported to RGIA for departure along with round-trip tickets.
Police said Balaji earned up to Rs 8,000 for each person he sent. Balaji had been previously booked by the Airport police station in Amritsar, Punjab.
Shiva Kumar alleged played the main role in identifying middle-aged women from impoverished backgrounds and targeted them. The duo was part of a larger illegal human trafficking network run along with the absconding agents Ramanjaneyulu.
According to Indian emigration rules, passport holders under the Emigration Check Not Required (ECNR) category can legally travel for employment abroad without POE clearance if they possess valid work VISAs and PCCs. However, ECR passport holders are mandatorily required to obtain POE approval, valid job contracts, insurance, and original work VISAs.