Hyd MLA caught in traffic(king) jam

New Delhi: The human trafficking net seems to widen with another possible case in Hyderabad. It involves an MLA from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi - Kasipeta Lingaiah.

Hyderabad police initiated a probe after anonymous letters and documents were sent to the media suggesting this possibility.

A special police team, which visited Lingaiah's Karimnagar residence on Wednesday, found the house locked. The authorities say that a case could be registered against the MLA in a day or two.

Police action

The Police remand of Kiran Dhar, Rajinder Kumar and Sunderlal Yadav in connection with the human trafficking case ends on Thursday.

Delhi Police allege that Sundarlal - who is the owner of a small paan shop in Delhi - has been coordinating the human trafficking business since 1993. The police claim he was the conduit between the MP and travel agents.

Sunderlal was also the man who named four other MPs in connection with the case. The MPs were Mohammed Tahir Khan, Mitrasen Yadav and Ashok Rawat from the BSP and Ramswaroop Koli, from the BJP.

"Initially we were not in the picture because the Delhi Police was investigating the case. We were giving them the necessary assistance. But now that media has given us some documents in which certain allegations have been made against some important persons of Andhra Pradesh, we are verifying things"
— Hyderabad City Police Commissioner, Balwinder Singh

Sunderlal claimed in the court that former Janata Dal MP Ram Awadh was also involved in the racket. He said he was introduced to Rashid, a Hyderabad travel agent by the secretary of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

Going by Sunderlal's admission, the MPs framed in the racket have been involved in this clandestine business for the past 14-years. However all of them deny the charges.

Rajinder is the personal assistant of BJP MP Babubhai Katara, the main accused in the case. Police named him the prime conspirator in the human smuggling racket.

While Katara would sit in the VIP lounge at the airport, Rajinder would allegedly get his travel documents cleared.

The crime branch of Delhi police also arrested Kiran Dhar, a beautician who helped with the make-up of the women traveling on the forged passports.

The police told the court that Rajinder was in direct contact with travel agents of Punjab who used to bring women to Delhi.

The police on Tuesday had asked for an extention of their custody for another two days.

They will be produced at the Patiala House courts in Delhi on Thursday. Kiran was earlier remanded to 14 days judicial custody.

Police has told the court that during interrogation Rajinder said Kiran Dhar was using the email ID of BSP MP Mitrasen Yadav for communicating with embassies.

Meanwhile a team of Delhi Police crime branch left for Dahod on Wednesday.

The case against Babubhai Katara

Katara - the 46-year-old Lok Sabha MP from Gujarat’s Dahod constituency - was to board the Air India flight 187 for Toronto with 30-year-old Paramjeet and a 16-year-old boy Amarjeet, who pretended to be his wife Sharada Ben and son Rajesh respectively.

Katara, Paramjeet and Amarjeet have been charged under various sections of Indian Penal Code related to forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy.

However, sources indicate that it also could be a case of human trafficking for monetary gains. The BJP has suspended Katara from the party.

Comparing the case with that of gangster Abu Salem's girlfriend Monica Bedi, Congress has demanded a clarification from BJP.

BJP RED IN FACE

Hoping to cut its losses, an embarrassed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to move early to expel its Gujarat MP Babubhai Katara from the parliamentary party. A day after the MP from Dahod was arrested for trying to smuggle a woman and her son on his wife and son's passports to Toronto, party leaders admitted Thursday that the episode could be damaging to the party that has always tried to take the high moral ground.

The Katara episode is a jolt to the BJP, more so as it has taken place amid the ongoing elections in Uttar Pradesh. Though some in the BJP said it would have no bearing on the elections because no one knows Katara in Uttar Pradesh, others admit that the opposition would score points against "the party with a difference".

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi has lost no time in describing it as a serious issue. "It involves forgery, impersonation, misrepresentation and possibly an immigration racket," he said, comparing the Katara episode to the ongoing case against mobster Abu Salem's girlfriend Monica Bedi in Bhopal. The Gujarat unit of the Congress has also demanded an apology from the BJP as well as Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP parliamentary party had Wednesday suspended Katara, who presides over the Dahod branch of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and issued him a show-cause notice asking him to explain in 10 days the circumstances leading to his arrest. BJP leaders said the suspension was hastened at the instance of opposition leader L.K. Advani, who called parliamentary party spokesperson V.K. Malhotra and asked him to announce the party's action against Katara.

The MP from Gujarat was arrested at the international airport here Wednesday along with a woman described by police as Paramjit Kaur and a teenager Amarjeet Singh. According to police, Katara was facilitating their travel to Toronto as his wife Shardaben and his son.

According to airport sources, Katara and Paramjit were just "a chance catch". A woman, Simran, had misplaced her passport and officials began investigating. When questioned, Paramjit blurted out her own name instead of saying Shardaben. The trio has been held on charges of impersonation, forged documents and cheating and will be produced in a Patiala House court Thursday. (IANS)

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)