Bengaluru: The state Crime Investigation Department (CID) busted several inter-state gangs involved in fake job rackets, cheating and also solved a murder case.
The accused brought victims from various states to Bengaluru under the pretext of getting them visa to Canada, but used to illegally confine them and extort lakhs of rupees from their family members.
The police have identified the accused as Harminder Singh, a native of Gurudaspur in Punjab, Sumit and Parsharam, both from Jind in Haryana; Rahul Mehra, Abdul Khareem Rehman Qureshi and Ajay Sharma, all from Mumbai; Asif Khan, Fasil and Ashfaq Khan, all residents of Bengaluru.
Another accused Idris alias Bhai Jaan, a resident of Bengaluru, died in a car accident in Nagpur, the police said.
Six other accused Pradeep and J.D. Patel, both from Delhi; Sunil Kumar, Parmindar and Manish, from Panipat in Haryana and Ajaz Ahmed from Mumbai are on the run. The police also busted another eight-member gang, which had held Bangladeshi nationals as hostages.
The case
Police said Harminder Singh and others promised Gurupreeth Singh and Surender Pal Singh, both from Hoshiarpur; and Manpreeth Singh of Gurdaspur jobs in Canada. He brought them to Bengaluru under the pretext of obtaining visa and other permits. Upon arrival at Bengaluru they were abducted and kept in a house near Bengaluru airport. The accused then forced them to tell their parents that they have reached Canada and request them to pay the remaining amount. As per the agreement, before leaving Punjab they had to pay Rs 2 lakh and Rs 20 lakh after reaching Canada. In order to hoodwink the parents, the calls were made through internet. On December 5, 2017, Gurupreeth, Manpreeth and Surender, were threatened to call their parents. Gurupreeth and Manpreeth complied and after their family members paid up, they were released. But Surender Pal refused and he was murdered. The body was disposed near Ramanagara. The next day, one Krishnaiah, a resident of Padarahalli village in Ramanagara Taluk found an unidentified body and alerted Ramanagara Rural Police Station. Meanwhile, a team from Tanda police station in Punjab along with complainant Gobinder Singh, a relative of Surender, came to Bengaluru in connection with a missing case. Gobinder later identified the body.
CID breakthrough
On November 16, this year, based on tip off of a similar job racket, the CID raided a hotel on Bagalur Main Road and took four people into custody - Rahul Mehra and Sunil Kejrival, both from Mumbai; Ashfaq and Jaffer, both from Bengaluru. Based on their statements, police conducted a raid at Kolipura in Chikkajala and arrested eight people - Mohamda Askar Ali; Mohamad Wazid Hussain; Mohamad Murthuja, all from Delhi; M.D. Parvez from Bihar; Syed Sadiq Syed Khaleel and Waseem Pasha, all from Ramanagara and Akbar Khan from Mysuru. The accused were holding eight Bangladeshis hostage and they were rescued. Another CID team searched a hotel in Yelahanka and arrested three Bangladeshi nationals - Paresh Sarkar, Rehman Sharif Sheikh and Billal Sheikh. Four victims, also from Bangladesh, were rescued. These rescued Bangladeshi nationals were promised jobs in various European countries. Later the CID team arrested the mastermind, Abdul Kareem Rahman Qureshi, from Mumbai. A search at his residence yielded Rs 18.5 lakh , 526.82 gm gold, Adhaar card copies, voter ID copies, 108 passports, SIM cards and mobile phones.
