The Kochi City Police have arrested a man reportedly of Indian-Afghan origin for visa violation after he had gone absconding from the city last month while working for a subcontractor at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).
Eid Gul (22) of Kabul was arrested by the squad of Ernakulam Assistant Commissioner Y. Nizamudeen from Bowbazar, a neighbourhood in Central Kolkata.
His father is an Afghan and his mother is from Assam. Gul had come to India on a three-month medical visa in June 2019 reportedly to escape the violence back home. However, he did not return even after the visa period expired.
"When his application for visa extension was rejected, his grandmother in Assam asked one of his uncles to take him along to Kochi as a helper. An ID proof was forged in the name of Abas Khan for the purpose. He had been working in the CSL since June before he had gone absconding," said police sources.
The police had been after the youngster for more than a fortnight after the CSL reported about him. CSL sources said that he was not directly employed but was among the numerous employees engaged by subcontractors.
Name discrepancy
"It was reported that one of the workmen of a subcontractor had a different name from what was in the documents he had submitted. During the course of document re-verification, our security realised that he was absconding. This happened last month and we reported the matter with the police," said a CSL spokesperson.
The South police have registered a case under Sections 14 (a) (whoever remains in any area in India for a period exceeding the period for which the visa was issued to him) and Section 14 (b) (whoever does any act in violation of the conditions of the valid visa issued to him for his entry and stay in India or any part thereunder).
Gul was produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody.
