Indian student jailed in Australia in visa scam

March 27, 2012

visaMelbourne, March 27: A Perth-based Indian student will spend 14 months in jail for his involvement in a scam to falsify English test scores to get Australian visas.

Rajesh Kumar, 31, faced ten charges for his part in fraudulently altering the International English Testing System (IELTS) scores at Perth's Curtin University between November 2009 and June 2010.

A Perth District Court sentenced Rajesh Kumar on Monday after he pleaded guilty for changing the outcomes of IELTS test apparently to get permanent residence in Australia.

Nine other persons have already been jailed in a scam to increase the IELTS scores to get permanent residence in Australia.

The list includes Kok Keith Low, a Curtin University English Language Centre employee who would be behind the bars for two years for playing the key role in falsifying the scores for various, mostly, Indian students.

Anyone achieving a score of a minimum 7.0 in four IELTS components gets extra points in the skilled points test to get permanent residence in Australia.

Rajesh Kumar was found guilty of taking a total of $32,000 from three IELTS candidates applying for Australian visas.

He kept $14,000 for himself while giving remainder to an intermediary Pritesh Shah. The latter paid some of this bribe to Kok Keith Low who would then falsify the score at Curtin University's IELTS test centre.

The former Indian student had earlier paid $5,000 to Mr Shah to get his own IELTS score changed to enable him to apply for an Australian visa.

The investigation carried out by Western Australia's Corruption and Crime Commission led to the conviction of ten persons including Rajesh Kumar.

In total, 73 charges were laid against 12 persons leading to fines of up to $20,000 and maximum jail of two years given to the former Curtin employee Kok Keith Low who faced 15 counts of bribery.

A former Indian national (and Kok Low's flatmate) Abdul Kader was sentenced for 18 months of imprisonment on 15 counts while Pritesh Shah has been handed a one year's sentence.

Judge Jeremy Curthoys of West Australian District Court has, according to The Australian newspaper, found Rajesh Kumar guilty of compromising the integrity of Australia's migration program.

"It was greed - pure and simple," The Australian has quoted Judge Curthoys as saying while handing down the sentence to the Indian student.

Rajesh Kumar's sentence was backdated to November 2 last year when he was arrested after arriving back in Australia from India.

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Agencies
July 17,2020

New Delhi, Jul 17: The first FIR against Volkswagen and Audi in India for installing cheat devices in their cars to misrepresent emissions has been filed in Noida.

The FIR was filed by Noida resident Aniljit Singh against the top officials of Volkswagen and Audi in India and their headquarters in Germany. These include Rahil Ansari, Brand Director, Audi India, Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head, Audi India, and Bram Schot, Chairman, Audi AG.

The FIR reviewed by media agency cites forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The complaint has cited the global emissions scandal where VW was found to be installing a cheat device in its cars, in the absence of which, the cars produced 10-40 times emissions beyond the permissible limits.

The complainant said that in 2018 he had purchased seven Audi cars worth crores of rupees. At the time of taking the delivery, the complainant said that he inquired if the cheat devices were installed in India and he was told by the company that they were not, as in India's emission norms were not as stringent and the country being a growing market for Audi, no such device was implanted.

The complaint said that the authorities in India observed that Audi cars' emissions for nitrogen oxide were 5-8 times the permissible limits and after the National Green Tribunal imposed a penalty of Rs 500 crore on VW, the complainant realised that he had been duped of his hard earned money.

He alleged that the accused persons had misrepresented the complainant by forging the documents and devices and caused wrongful gains to themselves and wrongful losses to the complainant. These officials had made wrong records to capture the market, with malafide intent and under a pre-planned conspiracy had induced and defrauded the complainant.

The accused persons are guilty of cheating the customers and have induced the complainant to part with hard earned money for sub-standard cars. The accused are also guilty of forging the documents on which they had sought various clearances.

The complainant has demanded that the allegations may be thoroughly investigated by a senior official.

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News Network
March 12,2020

Mar 12: Three women were arrested for allegedly administrating fake coronavirus vaccines to villagers in Maharashtra's Jalna district, police said on Thursday.

The police on Wednesday arrested Beed residents Radha Ramnath Saamse, Seema Krishna Andhale and Sangeeta Rajendra Avhad, who allegedly posed as doctors and healthcare workers, an official said.

The trio met villagers of Pipalgoan in Ambad tehsil, informed them about a vaccine that could protect them from coronavirus and administered it to gullible locals, he said.

Some villagers informed Dr Mahadev Munde, a medical officer at a rural health centre, about this, after which a complaint was lodged, the official said.

Fake vaccines and bottles, which were seized from the accused, have been sent to the state health department, he said, adding that a case of cheating has been registered against the trio.

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News Network
June 14,2020

Mandya, Jun 14: In a tragic incident, a woman and her two children were drowned in a pond at Beeranahalli village in Nagamangala taluk of this district on Sunday.

Police said that the deceased have been identified as Geeta (40), and her two children Savita(19) and Soumya(14).

Savaitha is a degree student while Soumya was studying in 9th standard. The trio drowned in a pond where they had gone to wash their cows. The locals rushed to the spot and tried to rescue them but could not save.

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