Three people were arrested in Hyderabad on Friday on charges of being involved in preparing fake visas to the Gulf countries, the Cyberabad police said.
The arrested were Rellu Kubinder Rao, a resident of West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, Shaik Basheer Ahmed and Balu Prasad, both Tamil Nadu residents, a police press release said.
The police said that Rao started an air ticket booking business in Hyderabad in 2016 and would book tickets through a travel agency in Chennai, on a commission of Rs 300 per customer. After doing this for two years, he "came to know about the processes of sending people abroad and thought of making fake documents for sending women abroad," the police said.
He arranged stamps and stickers for the fake documents with the help of Shaik Basheer Ahmed, who used to procure Kuwaiti revenue stamps and notary stickers and stamps from Sri Lanka, while Balu Prasad provided rubber stamps, the police said.
Speaking about Rao's modus operandi, the police said, "Women workers who wanted to go to Kuwait are sourced through his local agents, and the accused made fake Police Clearance Certificate, fake stamping certificates, medical certificates and also procured a tourist visa to visit Dubai."
"For any worker to go to Kuwait, they would require an Immigration Clearance Certificate from Protector of Emigrants (POE), without which they will not be allowed. To by-pass the system, Rao would send the workers to Dubai on a tourist visa and from there, they would go to Kuwait, thus escaping from immigration clearance," the police added.
Investigation officials said that in Kuwait, Rao had four agents who would provide employment to the women and for that, he would get Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 as profit.
The police seized Rs 2 lakh besides materials including 13 fake visa papers, 16 passports, 25 stamps, a laptop and a printer from the accused. All three accused have been booked under Section 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the IPC.