Six people have been charged with visa fraud, including two Local Law Officers (LLOs) who worked at the French Embassy’s visa department.
A spokesperson for the CBI identified the accused as Shubham Shokeen and Aarti Mandal, who worked as Visa Officers in the Embassy of France, New Delhi, as well as Navjot Singh, Chetan Sharma, Satwinder Singh Purewal and Manpreet Singh. On September 8, 9, and 13, Chetan, Satwinder, and Navjot, all from Punjab, allegedly submitted forged letters to the consulate of France, Bengaluru, purportedly written by a private company in Bengaluru, asking for entry visas to join private companies in Port-Le-Havre, France.
“According to source information, the three applicants approached Shokeen and Mandal and asked them for entry visas.” After taking Rs 50,000 from each, they gave them three visas.”
“They were issuing without the head of the visa department’s knowledge or approval. A police report said Shokeen and Mandal displaced/destroyed the visa department’s documents/files after they got their entry visas.
In a statement, the CBI said Shokeen and Mandal were accused of conspiring and committing visa fraud between January 1 and May 6. During searches in Delhi, Patiala, Gurdaspur and Jammu on Friday, six locations were searched. We’ve recovered incriminating documents/items like laptops, mobile phones, and suspicious passports.
