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Duo arrested for running visa racket for Pakistani visitors

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Press Trust of India Rajkot
Rajkot Police today claimed to have busted a visa racket with the arrest of two men who forged sponsor-letters for obtaining visas for Pakistani citizens.

Shivmal Bhojwani, himself a Pakistani national, and his cousin Dinesh Somvani, an Indian, were arrested this afternoon.

They allegedly forged signature of the principal of the Central School here and used counterfeit stamps of the school to create letters. Stamps were seized from their houses today.

A Pakistani person visiting India has to produce a letter from Indian citizen who is inviting him/her to visit.

The scam came to light when principal of the school, Rajrani Yadav, informed police commissioner H P Singh that the two were forging her signature and the stamp on sponsor letters for visitors from Pakistan.
 

Singh asked the Special Operation Group (SOG) to probe the matter. "Interrogation revealed that Shivmal is a Pakistani and he would visit here to meet his relatives often, said B T Gohil, an SOG official.

Shivmal was thus familiar with visa procedures and used the knowledge to run the racket which facilitated visas for Pakistanis. The two also made arrangements for their stay in Saurashtra, the official said.

A minimum of Rs 300 were charged for a fake sponsor letter.

Police are also verifying the visa papers of visiting Pakistani nationals in Saurashtra region.

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First Published: Nov 28 2013 | 10:02 PM IST

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