4 held for sending 10 to US with fake papers

Hyderabad: The LB Nagar special operation team along with Neredmet police on Wednesday arrested four persons who had allegedly sent 10 persons to the US on forged and fake documents including state government employee idendity cards.

The main accused, Garlapati Venkata Durga Nageshwara Siddhartha alias Wilson Chowdary, ran the St. Anthony’s Immigrations, at Secunderabad for six years along with co-accused Prabhakar Rao, said Malakgiri DCP D. Janaki.

They charged Rs 5 lakh for the service by forging a sponsoring letter of an Indian couple residing in the USA.

Police said Wilson also prepared fake ID cards showing the applicants as government employees. This was done to assure the US visa authorities that they would return after visiting their relatives in the US.

Police said Wilson introduced the visa aspirants to a private financier, G. Nagaraju, who would get accounts opened by them at Jagruti Co-Operative Union Bank Limited in Defence Colony, Neredmet crossoads, Janaki said. Nagaraju deposited up to Rs 50 lakh in the aspirant’s accounts and charged 1.5 per cent per interest per day from visa aspirants.

Wilson trained the aspirants about the process at the US Consulate. Police said Wilson had sent about 60 applicants to the US visa interview of whom 10 had got through.

One of them was Jakkula Nageshwar of Bussapur Nizamabad district, who posed as an accounts officer in the irrigation department. He was into custody along with Wilson and Nagaraju.

The SOT seized 16 fake ID cards of TS government employees, five passports, 279 cheque books of visa aspirants, DCP Janaki said.