11 hours Ago By Nitasha Natu
Representative photo MUMBAI: A “professor” of a private Haryana university who was taking seven Punjab and Haryana youths with him to the UK, purportedly for a student exchange programme , was arrested at Mumbai international airport on Monday on suspicion of submitting false information to obtain visas. Police said prima facie, it appears to be a human trafficking case. The seven youths were initially detained by police but subsequently released on court orders.
Three of them are minors. “We are yet to verify if the professor is associated with the Haryana-based university, as he claims. He has produced his identity card, but its authenticity needs to be verified,” said a police officer.
While an FIR was registered by Sahar police, the case was later transferred to the property cell for investigation. Around 12.30am on Monday, two youths approached the immigration counter at Mumbai airport and produced their passports and visas for verification, as per routine procedure.
They had visit visas for the UK. They told the officer manning the counter that they were students of a Haryana-based university and were bound for London with their professor for a student exchange programme. The officer then enquired what course they were studying at the private Haryana university and which varsity in London they were headed to.
The duo couldn’t come up with a satisfactory response. The officer alerted his superiors and they found five more youths at other immigration counters also headed for London with the same “professor”. On being quizzed, the “professor” claimed he was acting at the behest of two colleagues who were vocation heads at the Haryana university.
Earlier, he had a meeting at a hotel in Delhi with an agent named Bittu and the seven youths who wished to settle in the UK. Bittu had charged each of the youths Rs 20 lakh. He procured visas for the group after allegedly presenting false details about a student exchange programme in the UK, police said.
The “professor” then brought the seven youths from Delhi to Mumbai and was set to fly with them to London via Jeddah. Police said the parents of the minors have been informed..
