New Delhi:

Delhi Police have filed a case against several visa and passport agents after the US embassy flagged a major fraud that allegedly “cheated” the US government to obtain visas for applicants by providing false information.

The Crime Branch filed the case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act on February 27 based on the complaint, in which an embassy representative said such visa agents operated mainly from Punjab, Haryana, and other states.

The agents submitted false information in US visa applications and provided fake documents to applicants to deceive the US government and obtain visas using false information and misrepresentation, the complaint said.

In May-August last year, the embassy held an internal probe and prepared a list of those linked to multiple IP addresses and are suspected to be associated with visa consultants, document vendors, passport delivery addresses, and education consultants.

The complaint named over 30 suspects – agents and applicants who allegedly tried to obtain a visa using fake documents. It shared several instances of applicants submitting forged documents, in which the applicants claimed not to be aware of the documents submitted in their application and those were created by their agents.

The case is being investigated, officials said.

The complaint from the US embassy follows a crackdown by the Trump administration on immigrants entering the country by illegal means. Thousands have been deported since Donald Trump came to power two months ago, riding on his promises to secure American borders.

The crackdown has also brought to focus the desperate means by which hundreds of men and women in third-world countries try to reach the US. Many have undertaken the long ‘donkey’ route passing through multiple countries and treacherous forests, and many have perished in their quest for the American dream.