As many as 175 of the 341 passports belonging to various African nationals and visa documents issued by India, which were seized by the Central Crime Branch during a recent raid on an electronics shop in Banaswadi, are invalid. They had not been renewed before the date of expiry.
The travel documents were seized from the shop of Muniraju (45) on HRBR Road. They belong to African nationals, mostly students, from Namibia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Around 50% of the passports belong to citizens from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said the police. In all, police found 341 passports, 83 residential permits, 93 laptops, 155 mobile phones, four two-wheelers and seven four-wheelers.
“It appears that Muniraju had taken them as collateral for lending money,” said a senior police officer investigating the case. “This means about 175 African nationals are overstaying in the country. However, since we do not have a proper database of the students, we have asked the deputy commissioners in Bengaluru to identity and track the owners of the passports,” added the officer.
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The police will also be writing to the respective embassies seeking information about the passports-holders. “Deporting them alone will not solve the problem. We need to find out the reasons for them overstaying,” said a senior police officer.
The All Africa Students’ Association Bengaluru is helping the police in identifying the passport-holders.
But, even as the police are cracking down on African students overstaying in the city, the Association will be petitioning the State and central governments seeking a probe into the reasons for students overstaying in the country, especially Bengaluru.
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“Multiple factors contribute to this, starting with cheating by agents back in the student’s home town in Africa,” explained Bosco Kaweesi, legal adviser, All Africa Students’ Association Bengaluru.
According to him, the agents take money from parents and provide their children with a provisional admission certificate. “But upon reaching the respective Indian college, the management claims that the agent has not sent them the money and his/her passport is withheld by the educational institution,” he explained.
Besides, upon reaching the college, some students are asked to pay double the fees than what is told to them by the agent in their home town.
According to another member of the association, “There have been instances where the students have been asked to pay $10,000 to pursue a course for a degree in commerce. A student, whose parents would have taken a loan to send him to India, is scared to go back and thus overstays.”
Sometimes, colleges don’t issue a bonafide certificate for visa extension unless the student pays the fee for the subsequent year.
“In some cases, landlords retain the passport of students,” Mr. Kaweesi said. “The issue of overstaying will not end unless the government conducts a detailed probe into such issues,” he said.
Karnataka Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy has promised to look into the issue.