Cops unearth Haj job scam; 1 held

Hyderabad: A massive scam involving duping of youths by promising to secure “helper visas” to Saudi Arabia during Haj pilgrimage came to light on Tuesday. The south zone police arrested one of the alleged culprits in the case. Several youths, cheated by a gang, approached the police but their complaints were not taken consideration for several days.

The police started investigation into the case only after the victims approached the south zone DCP. According to the complaint made M A Lateef and Shaik Omer, both residents of Talab Katta under Bhavani Nagar police station limits, the alleged culprit Umair Mirz, who hailed from Nalgonda district, had masqueraded as an agent.

He cheated the complainants by promising salary of Rs 90,000, which included food accommodation, for three months. The culprits had collected Rs 1,000 from each aspirant at first and later Rs 3,500 from each towards “visa fee.” Lateef and Omer, in their complaint, said they had assembled 65 candidates and collected Rs 1,000 from each on behalf of Umair Mirza.

Mirza met some of the aspirants at Bharat Hotel and some others at Lucky Hotel at Santoshnagar between July 1 and August 17. The candidates had also paid Rs 3,500 towards “visa fee.” He had also made the aspirants shell out Rs 4,000 to facilitate medical examination for the latter. In a similar case, some youths from Ganganagar of Yakutpura in the city were also taken for ride by the alleged kingpin of the gang Syed alias Khaja Muqtaruddin.

He was accused of collecting Rs 6.75 lakh from the aspirants. The candidates were taken to Delhi on August 25 under the pretext of ensuring that they underwent medical examination. But when they went to collect visas, the candidate were shocked to find Syed’s house locked, one of the victims Sheik Hidaya said. According to victims, as many as 450 youths were taken for a ride by the gang comprising six to seven men.

By:Md Nizamuddin