Illegal immigration racket: Cop transferred for negligence

MUMBAI: A senior police inspector (SPI) of the Sahar police station has been transferred due to his alleged negligence while acting against the accused involved in a human trafficking racket, in which dozens of Indians were sent to countries such as the United States illegally via the “Dunki” route, officials said.

The Mumbai police’s crime branch recently arrested several members of a human trafficking gang that was allegedly responsible for sending at least 80 individuals illegally to countries like the US, Canada, Turkey, the Netherlands and Poland using fabricated passports and visas.

During their investigation, the police learnt that SPI Dhananjay Sonawane from the Sahar police station, under whose jurisdiction the Mumbai airport falls, had not investigated an earlier trafficking case against the one of the accused, which was why the decision to transfer him was taken, officials said.

“We have transferred Dhananjay Sonawane, senior police inspector of the Sahar police station to the Local Arms unit,” said a senior police officer. “It was found there was negligence on the part of the senior police inspector, so he was transferred after a report was received from the crime branch as the racket was operating for a while at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai.” Senior police inspector Sonawane could not be reached for a comment despite multiple attempts.

The police had registered a case on February 28 after being informed that a human trafficking gang had sent at least 80 individuals illegally to countries like the US, Canada, Turkey, the Netherlands and Poland using fabricated passports and visas. The gang used to charge ₹30 lakh- ₹50 lakh per person to send them to foreign countries using fake passports and visas, officials said.

The case was registered under sections 318 (4) (cheating), 319 (2) (cheating by personation), 336 (2) (forgery), 337 (forgery of public record, court record, or identity document), 340 (2) (using a forged document or electronic record as genuine) and 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Section 12 of the Indian Passports Act, 1967.

The racket came to light after a certain Roshan Bhaskar Dudhwadkar, a resident of Andheri East, was apprehended by the immigration department last month after he landed at the Mumbai airport from Bangkok. A crime branch team took Dudhwadkar in its custody for his suspected involvement in the racket, before arresting other accused persons such as Arun Dudhwadkar, Ajit Puri, Imtiyazali Mohammad Hanif Shaikh, Sudhir Sawant and Sanjay Chavan.

After transferring SPI Sonawane for negligence, the case has been given to an assistant police commissioner-level officer for a fair probe, said the police officer quoted earlier.