All for Kuwait visa: 4 held for surgically altering fingerprints
What's the story
The police on Thursday arrested two persons in Hyderabad, who allegedly conducted surgeries to alter fingerprints in an attempt to facilitate the re-entry of job seekers deported from Kuwait. Two patients, who underwent the surgery, were also held. The duo told the police that they had charged Rs. 25,000 for the surgery, and had operated on 11 persons in Rajasthan and Kerala.
Accused
Patients are are construction workers
The accused, Gajjalakondugari Naga Muneshwar Reddy (36) worked as a radiology and X-ray technician at Krishna Diagnostics in Chandragiri while Sagabala Venkat Ramana (39) was an anesthesia technician at DBR Hospital in Tirupati. The other two detained, Bovilla Shiva Shankar Reddy (25) and Rendla Rama Krishna Reddy (39) are construction workers. All the accused hail from Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh, police said.
Outdated tech
They got new Aadhaar cards, applied for fresh visas: Police
Rachakonda Police Commissioner, Mahesh M Bhagwat said people are deported from Kuwait after their visas expire or for violations of visa conditions. He said, it was found that Kuwait immigration department was using outdated technology. The individuals got new Aadhaar cards under a changed address using their changed fingerprints and then applied for a fresh visa. This helped them bypass the Kuwait immigration authorities.
Modus operandi
The fingerprints change for up to a year
The duo sliced the upper layer of the fingertips, removed a portion of the tissue and then re-stitched it. The wounds healed in a couple of months, altering the fingerprints slightly for up to a year. So far, they had sent three persons to Kuwait. Earlier, a gang was busted in Cyberabad, which used polymer to clone fingerprints and withdrew money falsely.
Origin
Accused conducted surgery on 11 people
The accused met a person, who was deported from Kuwait but managed to re-enter the country after getting fingerprint surgery done in Sri Lanka. They learned about two customers in Rajasthan, and went there to conduct surgery on them. In May, a Kerala resident contacted them following which they operated on six people, and later on three persons in their village.