Duped by visa consultant, man lands in Azerbaijan jail

Vadodara: A petrol pump attendant has been jailed in Azerbaijan after being duped by a city-based visa consultant living near his house.
The victim Mayur Dubedi was promised a job and temporary resident card (TRC) of Georgia in Europe by the accused Bipin Maurya and his wife Anjana Maurya. However, he was sent to Azerbaijan.

The accused approached Dubedi's wife Renu as the two women were friends. They told Dubedi in April 2017 that they could help him get a job with salary between Rs 60,000 and Rs 70,000 in Georgia. Bipin even told Dubedi that he would get his visa, air tickets and TRC of Georgia done.

Lured by Bipin's offer, Dubedi gave him Rs 3.22 lakh and the accused signed an agreement with him on stamp paper ensuring that all the promises will be fulfilled. In June, he got Azerbaijan's visa for Dubedi and sent him there. On reaching Azerbaijan, Dubedi got a call from Bipin informing that his agent will contact him for TRC of Georgia. After 20 days, Bipin again called Dubedi to inform that his visa is going to expire so he should come to Delhi where he will get his TRC done.

Dubedi was made to stay in Delhi for two months and in September Bipin reached there to meet him. According to Dubedi, Bipin told him that his Azerbaijan visa is still valid and promised to send him back for TRC after taking Rs 28,000 for air tickets. In September he was again sent back to Azerbaijan and stayed at the home of Bipin's agent Mehmood, who took US $1,500 for TRC.

After staying for three months at Mehmood's house, Dubedi could not get his TRC and instead his visa got over. The local police then arrested him for staying there without valid visa following which he had to spend seven days in jail. After he was released, Dubedi managed to get flight tickets back to India and returned home.

In his complaint, he told the police that Bipin had duped two other persons identified as Bhargav Patel and Jigar Patel.

Dubedi is currently working as petrol pump attendant on Sama-Savli Road.