Daijiworld Media Network – Karkala (SP)

Karkala, Jul 4: The JMFC court here rejected the bail applications moved by two persons, John Prakash Pereira from Peruvaje, and Suresh from Bangalore, who have been accused of involvement in visa racket.

Pereira and Suresh were presented in the court on Wednesday by the policemen. The court, observing that the bail application if entertained, can hamper the investigation in view of the fact this is a large scale racket, refused bail.

It is learnt that about 600 persons seeking high-paying employment from Dakshna Kannada district lost lacs of rupees because of this fraud, which was operated centrally from Bangalore. John Prakash Pereira from Peruvaje had opened an office near Anekere here. He used to collect two lac rupees from each of the employment seekers, either in cash or through credit to his account, but not through cheques or demand drafts. He also took the applicants to Bangalore for conducting medical examinations, to convince them that he was genuinely working for their welfare.

The clients, who waited for months and years, started pressurizing Pereira to refund their money, after finding that they did not get visas as promised. Pereira initially made them to believe that he had been deceived by the people running the Bangalore office, and that he would on his own, give back the amounts to them. In certain cases where the clients were insistent, he issued cheques, but they bounced on presentation.

Several citizens, angered by his functioning style, had caught hold of him at Moodbidri bus stand on April 22 this year, and handed him over to the police. Although the Moodbidri police thereafter handed him over to the policemen here, because of legal intricacies, he was released. But the police kept a tab on his movements.

After being armed with necessary paper work, the police arrested Pereira and Suresh on June 19. Two others, identified at Prathviraj and Balu, are absconding.