Arrest of Indian Navy officers in Mumbai exposes human trafficking racket involving passport officials, agents

In a shocking development, two Indian Navy officers have been arrested in connection with a human smuggling case in which people were sent to South Korea on fake and forged documents. At the centre of the case is sub-Lieutenant Braham Jyoti, who is said to be the mastermind and on whose instructions Lieutenant Commander Vipin Dagar was working—he would visit the Korean Consulate, prepare the forged documents, and forward the same to the Consulate. Both of them have been arrested.

As per the FIR filed at the MRA Marg police station in Mumbai and the investigation later taken over by the Crime Branch, Simran Teji, who is a close aide of Braham Jyoti, channeled the proceeds of the crime through her various bank accounts. She also opened fresh bank accounts by providing false mobile details associated with Braham Jyoti.

In the latest development, on June 30, two more accused, namely Ravi Kumar and Deepak Dogra, were arrested in J&K by the Crime Branch. Their transit remand was acquired, and they will be produced before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Esplanade Court, as soon as they reach Mumbai. "Among them, Ravi Kumar is a beneficiary who wanted to leave for South Korea on a visa acquired by submitting forged documents. Deepak Dogra appears to have been monitoring the overall operation and identifying potential targets who wanted to go abroad on work visas," said the FIR.

This racket of smuggling people to South Korea on fake documents first came to light via a complaint filed by the South Korean consulate in Mumbai. As per the police, "numerous people mostly from J&K travelled to South Korea on fake passports, and destroy their passports once they reach there and then seek asylum for an extended stay there."

Meanwhile, CBI has registered 12 cases against 14 officials from the Passport Sewa Kendras (PSKs) in Mumbai and eighteen passport facilitation agents or touts on allegations that these officials from PSK, Lower Parel and PSK Malad in Mumbai were conniving with passport facilitation agents and issuing fake and manipulated passports. The matter came to light after a Joint Surprise Check was conducted at both the passport offices of Mumbai—PSK, Parel and PSK, Malad—on June 26, by the Vigilance Officers of the Passport Seva Programme (PSP) Division and officers of RPO (Regional Passport Office) Mumbai.

The mobile phones, documents, social media chats and UPI activities of the suspected officers were analyzed jointly by the CBI team and Vigilance Officers of PSP, and suspicious transactions were found to have taken place. This pertained to the issuance of passports based on inadequate and forged documents. "The suspect officers of PSKs, in connivance with various passport facilitation agents/touts, were allegedly receiving huge monetary advantages directly in their own bank accounts or in the bank accounts of their near and dear/family members from the passport facilitation agents to the tune of several lakhs of rupees," the CBI said in a statement release.