Mumbai: The Crime Intelligence Unit of the Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested an officer of the Indian Navy for running a human trafficking racket, sending Indians to South Korea on tourist visas with forged documents.
About The Accused
The CIU arrested Navy Lieutenant Commander Vipin Kumar Dogar, 28, from the Western Navy headquarters in Colaba, Mumbai. He worked in the Navy’s engineering department in Mumbai and is from Sonipat, Haryana. He studied mechanical engineering at INS Kerala and joined the Navy six years ago. One of his Sonipat friends discovered that there was an increased demand for travel to South Korea and accordingly, Dogar and he ventured into the business of tourism two years ago.
According to sources, the group would locate people desperate to work overseas. North Indians became the target of this duo. There were five or six people working in a group, with one person responsible for finding candidates eager to go abroad while the other would create fake documents, such as bank statements, medical certificates, and so on. The syndicate assigned Dogar the crucial task of getting their client approved for a visa by the Korean embassy.
Dogar, wearing his Navy uniform, would frequently visit the Korean embassy in Worli, to check on the clients’ visa approval status. The syndicate sent citizens on tourist visas with fake documents and instructed them to burn the entire set of documents in order to obtain South Korean citizenship. The entire process would cost a person Rs 10 lakh.
About A Recent Incident
In the most recent incident, the accused went to the Korean embassy in Worli to check on the visa approval status of one of his clients from Jammu and Kashmir, but the visa was denied because of document issues. A uniformed Dogar picked up a fight with the embassy official for rejecting the visa, in the name of the Navy. The accused used his naval designation to obtain visa approvals from the Korean embassy.
“He started this business two years ago with his Sonipat, Haryana-based friends. They have sent 8 to 10 people to South Korea so far, and the reason for choosing South Korea is that the government there provides citizenship to the needy,” according to sources.
FIR Registered
The father of the accused is a retired Navy officer. An FIR was registered at the MRA police station, under Indian Penal Code sections 419, 420, 465, 467, 471, 120B, and Section 12 of the Passport Act. The court has granted police custody of the accused to the crime branch, until July 5.
