2 weeks Ago
Surat: A Kapodra-based vegetable vendor, Ajay Dobariya (31), has been cheated of Rs 20.85 lakh in a USA visa fraud . The accused, Gir resident Rohit Chovatiya, assured him of visas for three of his family members, including himself, but he neither arranged the visas nor returned the money.
According to the complaint, Dobariya deals in vegetables and online sari trading. In Dec 2023, Dobariya's Ahmedabad-based cousin, Rajesh Sojitra, introduced Chovatiya to him. As Chovatiya wanted to buy saris, he came to Surat with Sojitra.
After Chovatiya bought saris, Dobariya told him that he wanted to send his wife, Vijeta, to the USA. To this, Chovatiya told him that he also deals in visa processing. Chovatiya claimed that his partner stays in the USA who would send a sponsor letter to enable Vijeta to go to the USA.
After a few days, Dobariya decided to give the visa work to Chovatiya. Chovatiya demanded Rs 5 lakh for the visa processing work and Rs 1.5 lakh for air ticket after visa approval.
On Dec 2, 2023, Dobariya transferred Rs 5 lakh from his mother-in-law's bank account to Chovatiya. Meanwhile, Vijeta sent all her documents, including her passport, Aadhaar, PAN, and photos, to Chovatiya. On Jan 17, 2024, Vijeta paid Chovatiya Rs 10,000 towards medical tests.
Later, Chovatiya one day came to Dobariya's home and made him an offer. He told Dobariya that they both should go to the USA and start a business there in partnership. Dobariya agreed and sent Chovatiya documents for himself and his daughter.
Dobariya sent Chovatiya Rs 15.75 lakh from different bank accounts belonging to him, his sister, and his brother-in-law. In total, Dobariya gave Rs 20.
85 lakh to Chovatiya for visas for himself, his wife, and his daughter. A few months later, Chovatiya called Dobariya and told him that the visas had been processed and the flight to the USA would take off from Mumbai on June 26, 2024. But on the day of so-called departure, he told Dobariya that the flight had been cancelled and their next USA flight would be from Ahmedabad on June 29, 2024.
On June 29, Chovatiya again called Dobariya and told him there were some issues with his daughter's visa and gave the next date as July 7, 2024. However, after that, Chovatiya switched off his phone. After a month, he called Dobariya and assured him of returning his money as he could not get the visas.
But Chovatiya kept giving different excuses and did not return the money. When Dobariya realised that he had been cheated, he approached Kapodra police. He filed a cheating complaint against Chovatiya on March 15.
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