Father-son trio in Ahmedabad accused of ₹75 lakh Australia visa scam

A complaint has been registered against a father-son trio in the crime branch for orchestrating the investor visa scam in Ahmedabad.

Pankaj Patel, a resident of Bopal, Ahmedabad, was defrauded of ₹75 lakh by Chiman Patel of Jodhpur, Ahmedabad, and his sons, Bhavin and Manish Patel, who are currently in Australia.

Pankaj was an acquaintance to Chiman and whenever Manish visited India, he would encourage Pankaj to settle in Australia, explaining that if he came on an investor visa, his family could accompany him.

In August 2021, Manish sent Pankaj pictures of land and documents, asking for ₹75 lakh for the investment. Trusting Manish and his family, Pankaj transferred the money, with half money into Chiman’s account and the rest into Bhavin’s account, as instructed by Manish.

Two months later, Manish had emailed Pankaj with documents claiming the deal was closed with Dhaval Shah. However, the documents lacked proper stamps and signatures.

Manish also stated that, according to Australian law, he could not send the original documents by courier. This raised Pankaj’s suspicions, leading him to investigate the documents, where he discovered they were fake.

Upon realising he had been scammed, Pankaj had asked Chiman and Manish for his money back, but they had denied his request, prompting Pankaj to file a complaint.

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