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Last updated:Dec 25, 2024 3:30 PM IST
The agency said the latest searches have revealed that every year around 25,000 students are referred by one entity and more than 10,000 students by another to various colleges outside India.
ED previously found that the accused, as part of the racket, “arranged” entry for people seeking to enter the US illegally into colleges and universities in Canada.
The Enforcement Directorate is investigating the alleged involvement of some Canadian colleges and some Indian entities in a money laundering case related to the trafficking of Indians to the US from the Canadian border.
The investigation is related to the death of a four-member Indian family from Dingucha village in Gujarat. The four died from extreme cold while trying to illegally cross the Canada-US border on January 19, 2022.
The ED said it had taken cognizance of an FIR by Ahmedabad police against Bhavesh Ashokbhai Patel, who emerged as the main accused in the case, and a few others, to file a complaint under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Patel and others are alleged to have hatched “a well-planned conspiracy to send people (Indians) to the US through Canada through illegal channels thereby committing the crime of human trafficking,” the report said.
The agency had previously discovered that, as part of the extortion, the accused “arranged” entry for people seeking to enter the US illegally into colleges and universities in Canada.
Such people were applied for Canadian student visas and once they reached that country, instead of joining the university, they “illegally” crossed the US-Canada border, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
“In view of this, the compensation received by Canada-based colleges was refunded to the account of the individual,” the ED alleged.
Indians were “lured” into the racket and made to pay between Rs 55 and Rs 60 lakh per person, according to the ED.
The agency said it conducted fresh searches at eight locations in Mumbai, Nagpur, Gandhinagar and Vadodara in this case on December 10 and 19.
It was found, the ED said, that two ‘entities’, one based in Mumbai and the other in Nagpur, had entered into an ‘agreement’ for admission of Indians to universities abroad on a commission basis.
The agency said the latest searches have revealed that every year around 25,000 students are referred by one entity and more than 10,000 students by another to various colleges outside India.
“Further, it has been found that there are about 1,700 agents/partners based in Gujarat and about 3,500 agents/partners of other entities across India, of which about 800 are active.
“It is further revealed that approximately 112 colleges in Canada have entered into an agreement with one entity and over 150 with another entity. Their involvement in the present case is under investigation,” the ED said.
The agency suspects that of the total 262 such colleges in Canada, some, which are geographically close to the Canada-US border, are involved in the trafficking of Indian nationals.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
News India ED examines role of Canadian universities in trafficking Indians to US: report