A 30-year-old man who had worked in various capacities in film and television has been arrested for allegedly duping people on pretext of providing Canadian visas.
The arrest was made near Hyatt Regency Hotel by the Delhi Police Crime Branch after they received a complaint from a Tamil Nadu-based hardware networking engineer two days ago.
“On Monday, victim Shameer Jan approached us and told that while looking for a foreign-based job offer he came across an advertisement titled ‘Job in Canada’. This was uploaded by one Surinder Singh on popular website www.olx.com that hosts free user-generated classified advertisements,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav.
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Mr. Yadav added that the complaint went on to add that Surinder Singh further lured Shameer by conveying that he has been shortlisted for a job in Hilton Garden Inn in Toronto for a lucrative salary of 2000 Canadian dollars per month. He was provided with a scanned copy of fake job offer letter embossed with Canadian visa.
“When Suridner asked the complainant to give 1,000 Canadian dollars more at New Delhi Railway Station, he got suspicious and verified the Visa from Canadian High Commission and it was found to be fake,” he said.
Based on the complaint, a case was registered and on the same day the accused was arrested.
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During interrogation, Surinder, a resident of Punjab revealed that he went to Mumbai in 2004 but failed to get a job and had to settle for petty jobs in Film City there.
“Three years later, he came in contact with a Jalandhar-based person in Bollywood who inspired him to work as an Assistant Director in a Punjabi movie Pind Di Kudi . Later, he also worked as Casting Crew for Balaji Films TV Serial Saat Phere . In the year 2008, he came to Chandigarh and started shooting Punjabi music videos with well-known singers Mintu Dhoori and Jatinder before returning to Mumbai in 2009-2010,” said Mr. Yadav.
During his second stint in Mumbai, he came in contact with one Qureshi was indulged in cheating people, through internet, on the pretext of providing Canadian visa. The accused Surinder Singh got inspired from him and uploaded a phone number and fake company name “Hams Enterprise” on www.olx.in. He started cheating people on pretext of providing Canadian visa, said the police.