Mumbai: Police in Sahar have registered an FIR against a woman for allegedly trying to travel to Greece on a fake visa with her 15-year-old son.
Pratibha Dansinghani, 38, and her son had applied for Schengen visas at the Netherlands Consulate, which rejected their applications. Despite this, they obtained fake visas and tried to travel from Mumbai to Greece via Istanbul on November 20.
According to the FIR, Dansinghani, a Pune resident, arrived at the Mumbai International Airport at 4 am on November 20, accompanied by her son. They were booked on Flight 6E-17, scheduled to depart at 6.40am.
Dansinghani presented her passport and boarding pass at the immigration counter. During the verification process, the immigration officer became suspicious of the visa’s authenticity. Doubts were also raised about her son’s visa.
The officer referred the matter to his superior, who initiated an inquiry. Upon closer inspection, it was confirmed that the visas were counterfeit. Subsequently, the officers sent the visas to the Netherlands Consulate for verification via WhatsApp.
The consulate confirmed that both applicants had applied for visas on October 24 at its New Delhi office, but the applications were rejected on October 30.
Further investigations revealed that Dansinghani and her son intended to settle in Europe. To facilitate this, she had approached an agent, identified as Priya Singh, based in New Delhi. Singh allegedly provided the fake visas, which they attempted to use for their journey to Greece via Istanbul.
The immigration officer handed over the duo to the police, who registered an FIR. The charges include violations under Section 12 of the Passport Act, along with Sections 318(4) (cheating), 336(2) and 336(3) (forgery), and 340(2) (use of forged documents as genuine) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on November 20.
