The Delhi IGI airport.
Credit: PTI File Photo
An elderly man with a white beard and a blue turban, who identified himself as Rashvinder Singh Sahota (67), was standing in the Departure Immigration queue at the Delhi IGI airport on June 19. He was headed to Canada.
According to a report by The Indian Express, the CISF officials sensed something fishy about the man's voice and found his skin too young for his age -- without a single wrinkle.
Upon his arrest, it turned out that the person was Guru Sevak Singh, aged 24, travelling using a fake passport.
His wife, identified as Archana Kaur, tried to flee the spot but was caught later.
The police said that the couple were from Lucknow and had been staying at a hotel in Mahipalpur for a week and a case has been filed against the Guru.
According to the IE report, DCP (IGI) Usha Rangnani said, "During the course of investigation in the case, Guru Sevak disclosed that the couple wanted to go to the US to secure a job and a chance at a better livelihood. Guru Sevak had got in touch with an agent, Jagjeet Singh alias Jaggi, through one of his friends. Jagjeet promised to send Guru Sevak and his wife in an illegal manner to the US through Canada via the ‘donkey route’ on the passport of another person in exchange for Rs 60 lakh."
Guru confessed to the police that he had paid Rs 30 lakh to Jaggi and that he planned to transfer the rest of the money after reaching Canada.
According to the publication, Rangnani also said, "As per the deal, Jaggi arranged a passport of one Rashvinder Singh Sahota for him. Similarly, the passport of one Harjeet Kaur was arranged for his wife for their journey to Canada."
The makeover
To make Guru look like an 'old man', one of Jaggi's associates took him to a salon in Tilak Nagar.
According to the IE report, a police official said, "One of the salon staffers gave him a makeover in order to make him appear like the picture in the passport…he got his beard bleached white for Rs 2,000."
The police arrested Jaggi from Rudrapur in Uttarakhand and during interrogation, he said that he was a graduate who runs a company named 'True Talk Imagination' in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh.
According to the publication, the DCP said, "During his work, he came in contact with some agents who used to cheat people on the pretext of sending them abroad and started working with them."
An officer said that the owner of the salon is also being interrogated and is a crucial witness in the case.