April 28, 2007
Katara Got Rs.800,000 Per Person By Sahil
Makkar
New Delhi
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Babubhai Katara, arrested for
allegedly trying to smuggle people abroad, has told police that he
was paid Rs.800,000 for every person he helped to go abroad
illegally, with his aide and travel agents pocketing most of the
money made in the deals.
"I was given only Rs.800,000. I really don't know if they charged
Rs.3 or 4 million for sending people abroad with me," Katara told
officers interrogating him.
He stated this when confronted with statements of his aide Rajender
Gampa and some travel agents that they used to charge Rs.3 to 4
million from each person who flew abroad in the company of the MP on
the latter's family's passports.
Police say they have evidence that Katara and his associates were
involved in flying out at least 12 people to the US and Britain. The
Gujarat politician had personally taken six people with him.
"They have fooled me," a police official quoted the MP as telling
investigators during interrogation.
"Though he was paid a handsome amount, it were the agents and others
involved in the human trafficking racket who arranged for the
passports and clients and so took a larger share of the booty," a
senior police official told IANS.
"Our investigations show that these travel agents were in some kind
of agreement with the MPs and paid them a fixed amount every time
they smuggled out a client abroad. Katara was given Rs.800,000. The
rest of the money was distributed among the MP's aides and agents,"
the officer added.
Katara, who had reportedly earned around Rs.3.5 million through
human trafficking, was apparently not aware that Sunder Lal Yadav, a
travel agent, earned more than him simply by arranging the clients
and documents.
The investigating officer also revealed that travel agents
identified people who could cough up Rs.3 million to travel abroad.
The agents had a wide and well-organised network spread through the
small towns and cities in Punjab to the big cities in Andhra
Pradesh.
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police, which is conducting the
investigation, has identified five travel agents involved in the
racket. Three are from Punjab (Joginder Singh, Santhu Masih and
Harbhajan Singh), Hyderabad and New Delhi.
The racket came into light April 18 when Katara was arrested at the
airport here while trying to fly out a woman, Paramjeet Kaur, and a
15-year-old boy Amarjeet Singh on the passports of his wife and son.
Police later arrested Gampa, Sunder Lal Yadav and their female
accomplice Kiran Dhar on charges of forging documents and passports.
Yadav was charged with arranging the visas.
Kiran allegedly taught women flying abroad how to act like an MP's
wife - and how to conduct before immigration officers.
Yadav told a court here that three Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MPs
from Uttar Pradesh - Mitrasen Yadav, Ashok Rawat and Mohammed Tahir
Khan - and Ramswaroop Koli of BJP from Rajasthan were also involved
in the racket.
And Gampa told the court that Katara as well Mitrasen Yadav and
Ashok Rawat knew that he was using their letterheads to help people
immigrate illegally.
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