How sr Navy officer’s meltdown at South Korea consulate brought visa racket to light

Arthur Road Jail, where male accused are cooling their heels. FILE PIC

The Mumbai police crime branch has filed a over 1,300-page charge sheet at the Esplanade Court in connection with the South Korea visa racket involving two decorated Indian Navy officials and their agents, including a close female friend of the mastermind. Apart from the Navy officers, Sub-Lieutenant Brahmajyoti Sharma, 29, and Lieutenant Commander Vipin Dagar, 28, three civilians - Simran Teji, 29, Deepak Mehra alias Deepak Dogra, 29 and Ravi Kumar, 32 - were arrested in connection with the racket.

Sharma and Dagar had allegedly been minting money by exploiting the desire of school and college dropouts in Jammu to obtain asylum in South Korea where they can earn at least R1 lakh per month. "The daily minimum wage in South Korea is significantly higher than in India. So, the unskilled youth of Jammu would prefer to go to South Korea where they would seek jobs in chicken factories. Each youth would earn lakhs every month. This offer was very enticing for Jammu youth who were sent to South Korea on tourist visas," said an officer from Mumbai Crime Branch requesting anonymity.

"One needs to have a decent bank balance and profile to seek a South Korea tourist visa. Since the youth were dropouts, the racketeers would demand R15-20 lakh from each candidate to obtain tourist visas illegally," the officer added. The mastermind behind this racket is Sharma, whose childhood friend Dogra had recently returned to his hometown in Jammu after working at a chicken factory in South Korea. "After visiting South Korea twice, Dogra now runs a dhaba in Jammu where he would encourage unemployed youth to go to South Korea, where there is a dearth of workers," the officer informed mid-day.

"Once the youths reach South Korea, they would seek asylum in the East Asian country citing threats to their lives as they were living in a disputed region," said another officer privy to the investigation. "The youth had been told to first the G-1 card which is valid for three years and, after renewing it every six months after that, to continue staying in South Korea," the officer added.

How the racket was exposed

It became increasingly difficult for Dogra to manage everything single-handedly as the demand for sending unemployed youth to South Korea was rising in Jammu. Since Dogra and Sharma were schoolmates, the former casually discussed it with the naval officer, who allegedly hatched a plan to go bigger. Sharma was posted in Lonavla but he knew his colleague Dagar was posted in Visakhapatnam. The naval officers in connivance with civilians, including a woman, had been running this racket since September 2023, Crime Branch officials said.

Sharma had told Dogra to send the passports of job-seeking youths to Visakhapatnam from where Dagar would send them for processing to obtain tourist visas."The nearest South Korean consulate office was located in Chennai. So, it was a herculean task for Dagar to travel from Visakhapatnam to Chennai to apply for tourist visas. Also, most of his visa applications were rejected at the South Korean consulate office in Chennai. So, Dagar got himself transferred to Colaba in May 2024 to make the illegal work seamless," said the officer.

Ruckus exposed the racket

After arriving in Mumbai, Dagar submitted the credentials of Jammu native Ravi Kumar to obtain a visa from the South Korean consulate in Worli. "But the application was rejected as the application should have been submitted at the South Korea consulate office in Delhi since it is closer to Jammu and Kashmir," said the officer.

Sources told mid-day that Kumar had studied up to Std VIII but he was presented as a dentist working in Pune. "The racketeers had made bogus documents and also submitted a fake bank statement at the Worli consulate," said the officer. "The reason behind the rejection was not the fake documents but the proximity issue. Hence, Sharma told Dagar to visit the consulate office in Worli in uniform to influence them into issuing a visa for Kumar and the latter did just this in June 2024. He told officials at the consulate that Kumar was his cousin. However, the officials told him to bring Kumar the next day to the office," a source said.

"It was difficult for Dagar to take Kumar to the consulate office as he couldn't ensure the latter would reach Mumbai the next morning," he added. "So, the next day, Dagar went to the Worli office again in his uniform. When officials did not succumb to the pressure, the lieutenant commander accused them of seeking a bribe to issue the visa," he added.

"Since Dagar was in his uniform, the South Korean consulate office wrote a complaint letter to the Indian Navy describing the ruckus. Also, CCTV footage was attached with the complaint," a Crime Branch officer told mid-day. "The Indian Navy started conducting an internal investigation. And, when Dagar was asked the reason behind his visit to the South Korean consulate office in Worli, he had no reply," he added.

A naval officer requesting anonymity said, "Baffled by his silence, the investigators visited his official residence in Colaba and discovered 14 Indian passports of various Jammu residents and a stamp-making machine. The Mumbai police were then informed and the incriminating materials were handed over."

Role of mastermind

Dagar was arrested on June 27 and a day later, Mumbai police arrested the mastermind, Sharma, who is tight-lipped. A Crime Branch source, said, "Sharma is a hard nut to crack. He responds to questions monosyllabically. Though he has not accepted his role in this racket, we have incriminating evidence against him as well as others."

An officer privy to the investigation said money was sent to Teji's bank account. Teji is a resident of Pune where she runs an online dry fruit business. In her defence, she told the court that money received in her bank account was related to her business."Sharma opened a bank account in the name of Teji's relative and linked his mobile number as part of the KYC process. Money received in Teji's account was transferred to this newly opened bank account. Since Sharma's mobile number was associated with the account, he had direct access to the funds," said the officer.

The Crime Branch has retrieved Sharma's Google search history and learnt he typed ‘where to get stamp making machine in Vizag at best price' a day before Dagar purchased the machine at Visakhapatnam. Before getting himself transferred to Mumbai, Dagar would call candidates to Visakhapatnam and make them stay for a few days in a hotel where he would train them to answer questions.

The racketeers managed to send at least 10 candidates from Jammu to South Korea on tourist visas and were in the process of sending 14 more, but the racket was exposed due to Lt commander's misbehaviour at the consulate office in Worli. Crime branch sleuths have visited the homes of all 14 candidates from Jammu.