Mumbai: Couple duped out of Rs 27 lakh over job in UK, visa; woman held
Mumbai (PTI): A woman has been arrested in Mumbai after she and a man allegedly cheated a couple of Rs 27 lakh under the pretext of helping them with a job in London and visas to the United Kingdom, police have said.
The arrest of the accused, identified as Akanksha Rajendra Tiwari, may help the police uncover more such cases, an official said on Tuesday. Police are also looking for another accused in the case.
In his complaint to the Kandivali police, Vikas Vidur Kumar Khativeda, an engineering consultant, said his wife Monika Dahal wanted to work in London. While searching for agencies in Mumbai offering job-plus-visa services, she came across a private company on social media.
The company had posted several stories claiming to offer jobs as well as visa services for the UK, Canada, Australia, Europe, and other countries. Dahal contacted the number provided and was introduced to the accused Akanksha Tiwari, said the official.
Citing the FIR, the official said the couple met Tiwari in an office in Raghuleela Mall, Kandivali. Based on the instructions of Tiwari and one Rohit Songara, who claimed to be the company owner, they paid Rs 27 lakh between June 2024 and May this year, he said.
However, even after repeated promises, neither the work visa for Dahal nor the dependent visa for her husband was provided. Both accused subsequently began avoiding them.
Soon after, the couple found out that the Kandivali office of the company was shut and that it had moved to the Malad area, but the accused were not found there either.
Realising that they had been cheated, the husband filed a complaint with the Kandivali police, the official said.
Police registered a case against Tiwari and Songara and subsequently arrested the woman, the official said, adding efforts are being made to nab the other accused.
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Women's quota bill would have ensured defeat of democracy, Constitution: Aaditya Thackeray
Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday said that the passage of the women's quota bill would have ensured a "total defeat of democracy", alleging that the legislation, linked with a delimitation exercise, was a political tool designed to reduce the voice of states.
Thackeray, in a post on X, claimed that the Bill would have amended the Constitution for the political means of the ruling regime to increase seats, reduce the voice of many states and enable the gerrymandering of constituencies to ensure unfair victories.
"The very amendment that would have ensured the total defeat of democracy and the Constitution in India stands rejected by the unity of the Opposition MPs," he wrote.
The legislation should have been called "Delimitation to ensure unfair victory Bill", the former minister said, adding that there was a genuine need to enable 33 per cent reservation for women in the current number of seats.
"Now, it is up to the government to ensure that it is implemented in the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha for the 2029 elections and all elections across India, if that is the real intent of the government," he wrote.
A Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats was defeated on Friday in the Lower House.
While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
According to the Constitution Amendment Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
