Producer-director Partho Ghosh allegedly forged documents for women, and sent them out of the country on the pretext of film shoots; he would promise the women well-paying jobs overseas
The arrest of a 32-year-old Ahmedabad-based woman at Toronto airport in Canada by immigration department officials has revealed a nexus between Bollywood personalities and agents who sent women to foreign countries using fake visas and documents, after promising them jobs.
Well-known director-producer Partho Ghosh was arrested by the Sahar police on charges of human trafficking on Monday night. He allegedly extracted Rs 10 lakh from the woman on the pretext of getting her a job abroad.
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in a soup: Partho Ghosh is well-known in Bollywood circles and has directed hit films in the 1990s like 100 Days, Agni Sakshi and Yugpurush
A source from the Sahar police station said that girls who were being sent abroad by Ghosh would be charged handsome amounts, which they paid in hope of getting jobs and starting a new life.
Ghosh allegedly sent a group of 18 women to Toronto last year, assuring the airport authorities that he was sending them to shoot for his upcoming movie. But one of them, identified as a Yamini Mistry (31), was caught by the Immigration department at the airport.
Mistry told officials of Canada’s immigration department that she was sent by Ghosh to shoot for one of his films, but had no idea that the documents that were handed to her by the agent were fake. She also expressed surprise when she was told that no such shooting for an Indian film was scheduled to take place in Canada.
Following this, the immigration department wrote to the Indian immigration department. In March this year, the Government of India confirmed that the documents that Mistry was carrying were fake. On the basis of this declaration, the Indian immigration department instructed the Sahar police station to register an FIR against four persons, including two agents and Ghosh, in the month of July.
“On the basis of the complaint filed by the immigration department, we had registered an FIR against director Partho Ghosh for forging documents to send the girl to a foreign country. The FIR was also registered against Yamini Mistry, agent Rajubhai Darbar and Ghosh’s assistant Farhan Siddique,” said PI Raghunath Delvi of the Sahar police station.
“On Friday, we had arrested Ghosh and Mistry in connection to this case, while Rajubhai and Farhan Siddique are absconding. It is a huge nexus between Bollywood personalities and agents who send girls out of country. We are trying to find out how many girls have been sent by Ghosh using the same modus operandi,” said Senior Police Inspector Ravindra Patil from Sahar police station.
Ghosh was produced in Andheri court, and granted bail against a payment of Rs 15,000 last morning. u00a0
Modus operandi
>> Sources from the Sahar police station revealed that Ghosh and his agents have been chargingu00a0Rs 10 lakh for sending women abroad, to countries including USA, UK, UAE and Canada. They would promise the girls that they would earn handsome amounts upon settling there. Ghosh is said to be the mastermind in the racket, taking the young women under his wing, and sending them abroad on the pretext of shoots.
>>u00a0Yamini Mistry, who was arrested two months ago, is a divorced single mother from Ahmedabad. In her statement, she said that agent Rajubhai approached her and asked her to pay Rs 10 lakh for a ticket to Canada -- he assured her that she would earn well. She sold her land and left for Canada. u00a0
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