Search on for 22 Indian minors taken to France on pretext of Rugby training
Based on information from France, the CBI has registered a case against three suspected trafficking agents for allegedly sending 25 minor boys to France on the pretext of a rugby training camp. The racket came to light after French authorities apprehended one of the trafficked boys recently and informed Interpol. The international agency in turn informed the CBI, which registered a preliminary enquiry. The agency also conducted raids at four places in Delhi and Punjab in connection with the case.
The agency today carried out searches at the premises of the travel agents — Faridabad-based Lalit David Dean and Delhi-based Sanjeev Roy and Varun Choudhary — from where documents were seized, they said.
The officials alleged that the agents had charged Rs. 25- 30 lakh from the parents of each of the minors for sending them abroad. In their visa application, the agents had shown that the 25 children in the age group of 13-18 years were going to attend a rugby training camp in Paris, they said.
“A group of 25 students shown as students of two Kapurthala (Punjab)-based schools led by private persons (travel agents) embarked at Delhi airport for Paris to participate in a rugby training camp on the basis of alleged invitation received from the French Federation, Paris,” CBI Spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.
It added, “It was also alleged that the visa in respect of said students were obtained from French Embassy at Delhi on the basis of forged and fabricated documents. It was further alleged that all the 25 children were left in Paris and their return tickets were got cancelled by said accused persons. However, 02 students could return to Delhi.”
