Admissions to relatively unknown private universities, fee discounts, visa extensions – these are some of the ways travel agents from across the country duped dozens of men into going to Russia and eventually being forced into the country’s war with Ukraine, the Central Bureau of Investigation has found.
The agency made these revelations a day after conducting searches at around 15 places in seven cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Ambala, Chandigarh, Madurai, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai — and ascertaining that various agents at these locations, as well as three currently based in Russia, had allegedly duped Indian youths, primarily students.
The development comes against the backdrop of two Indian youths — one from Gujarat and another from Telangana — dying on the frontlines.
The Ministry of External Affairs also issued a statement in this regard Friday. “Several Indian nationals have been duped to work with the Russian Army. We have strongly taken up the matter with the Russian government for early discharge of such Indian nationals,” MEA’s official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
“Strong action has been initiated against agents and unscrupulous elements who recruited them on false pretexts and promises. The CBI yesterday busted a major human trafficking network, conducting searches in several cities and collecting incriminating evidence. A case of human trafficking has been registered against several agents,” Jaiswal said.
“We once again appeal to Indian nationals to not be swayed by offers made by agents for support jobs with the Russian Army. This is fraught with danger and risk to life,” he said. “We remain committed to the early release of our nationals serving as support staff with the Russian Army and their eventual return home.”
As reported by The Indian Express, the path of several such youths to Russia often started with the search for a job. Several families testified that the young men had come across a YouTube Channel promising jobs in Russian government offices in Moscow, but once the men reached the country, they were swiftly trained and sent to the frontlines.
The CBI found that a single agency based in Delhi sent as many as 180 people to Russia, mostly on student visas. Sources said the role of embassy employees is also under scanner.
In its FIR, the CBI said agents were duping Indians on the pretext of admissions to dubious private universities in Russia, but not in government or publicly known ones. “It has been learnt that on reaching Russia, passports of these Indian nationals were taken/snatched by agents. They were being trained in combat roles and provided with Russian army uniform and batches. Later, these Indian nationals are/were being deployed at front bases in the Russia-Ukraine war zone against their wishes and put their lives in grave danger,” it states.
The CBI said it has established that some people were also grievously injured as a result.
Last week, Jaiswal had told reporters that some 20 Indians, working as support staff or helpers with the Russian Army, have contacted Indian authorities for assistance. “The traffickers have been operating as an organised network and were luring Indian nationals through social media channels such as YouTube, and also through their local contacts/agents for highly paid jobs in Russia,” the spokesperson had said.
In its FIR, the CBI also said, “The accused persons, themselves and through their agents, trafficked Indian nationals to Russia on the pretext of getting jobs related to the Russian army, as security guards, helpers, or for a better life, job, education. Huge amounts were charged from these persons illegally. The human trafficking network of these agents are spread over several states across India,” the CBI said in its FIR.
The accused named by the CBI in its FIR included four companies, of which three were incorporated in 2023.
Delhi-based 24X7 RAS Overseas Foundation, whose directors are Suyash Mukut and Garima Balayan, was incorporated in January 2023. It has an authorised capital of Rs 1 lakh and paid up capital of Rs 80,000. Its office in New Delhi’s Kasturba Gandhi Marg was found locked on Friday, as was its director Mukut’s home in Greater Kailash.
Ambala-based Adventure Visa Services (OPC) Private Limited, whose director is Manjeet Singh, was incorporated in January 2023. It has an authorised capital of Rs 15 lakh and paid up capital of Rs 2 lakh.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Singh denied that his firm was involved in any illegality. “I was not at our Chandigarh office when the CBI team landed there on Thursday. I met the CBI team on Friday and provided all the relevant information. I am ready to face the probe. I don’t have to fear anything because we don’t do any illegal work,” he said, adding that the company’s office in Ambala was shut in February 2023, after which it was moved to Chandigarh.
“We have completed all legal formalities, including registration of our firm with the (Union Ministry of) Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). We have sent more than 100 youths to Russia, earning nearly US$300 in each case,” said Singh, who hails from Nihaluwal village in Punjab’s Barnala district.
“We did not recruit anyone for the (Russia-Ukraine) war. We send youths only on study visas… Our work is limited to visas, extension of visas and admission of the students concerned and their classes there,” he added.
Another firm named in the FIR, Baba Vlogs Overseas Recruitment Solutions, has Faisal Abdulmuttalib Khan and Mohammad Sufiyan Dawood Ahmad Darugar as directors. It was incorporated in August 2023, and has an authorised capital of Rs 5 lakh and paid up capital of Rs 1 lakh.
When The Indian Express visited Darugar’s Mumbai address as mentioned in the CBI FIR, the flat was found to have been locked. According to his next-door neighbour at the Vasai apartment building, the flat had been occupied by Darugar, his wife and their children. “However, we have not seen them in the past week. They did not interact much with anyone. Many people are now coming here and enquiring about them. Faisal (Abdulmuttalib Khan) was always seen with Sufiyan (Darugar) and he stayed with his family in the apartment building opposite ours,” the neighbour said.
When Express visited Faisal’s apartment, his wife said she had not seen Faisal for the past two-three months and that she had no knowledge of the allegations against him. “I don’t know anything about his whereabouts and cannot comment on his work because we are no longer in touch as we have applied for a divorce,” she said.
According to residents of the building, Faisal had lived in the area since his childhood. His father used to run a tailoring business there before his death five years ago, residents said.
“He (Faisal) mostly stayed abroad and his wife and children stayed here. He would visit them at intervals of two-three months, and I have not seen him for the past two-three months,” a neighbour said.
O.S.D Bros Travels & Visa Services Private Limited is the oldest of the four firms named in the FIR, and was incorporated in October 2016. It has an authorised and paid up capital of Rs 50,000. Its directors are Rakesh Pandey and Deepak Pandey. On a visit to the shop address of OSD Bros in Malad on Friday, the offices were found to be shut.
Locals said CBI officials had gone to the area a day earlier and enquired about the owners’ whereabouts. However, the offices have been shut since Wednesday morning, the locals said.
– With inputs from Sukhbir Siwach from Ambala; Vallabh Ozarkar, Nayonika Bose, and Pratip Acharya from Mumbai; and Dheeraj Mishra and Upasika Singhal from New Delhi