MP sold himself just for Rs 8 lakh

New Delhi: BJP MP Babubhai Katara received just about Rs 8 lakh for each person who flew abroad with him on his family passports while his aide and travel agents pocketed most of the money made in the deals.

Delhi police officials probing the scam have quoted the MP as saying that he was unaware if the travel agents were charging up to Rs 40 lakhs from each person.

"I was given only Rs 8 lakhs. I really don't know if they charged Rs 30 or 40 lakhs for sending people abroad with me," Katara told the police during his interrogation.

The Crime Branch of Delhi Police, which is conducting the investigation, has identified five travel agents involved in the racket.

Katara gave this information when police officials probing the human trafficking scam confronted him with statements of his aide Rajender Gampa and some travel agents.

The travel agents had earlier told the police that they used to charge up to Rs 40 lakhs from each person who flew abroad in the company of the MP.

Delhi police sources say they have evidence that Katara and his associates were involved in flying out at least 12 people to the US and Britain. The Gujarat politician had personally taken six people along with him.

"They have fooled me," the MP told the police team..

"Our investigations show that these travel agents were in some kind of agreement with the MPs and paid them a fixed amount every time they smuggled out a client abroad. Katara was given Rs 8 lakh. The rest of the money was distributed among the MP's aides and agents," a police official told the IANS news agency.

Katara, who had reportedly earned around Rs 35 lakhs through human trafficking, was apparently not aware that Sunder Lal Yadav, a travel agent, earned more than him simply by arranging the clients and documents.

The human trafficking racket was busted on April 18 when Katara was arrested at the airport while trying to fly out a woman, Paramjeet Kaur, and a 15-year-old boy Amarjeet Singh on the passports of his wife and son.

Police later arrested Gampa, Sunder Lal Yadav and their female accomplice Kiran Dhar on charges of forging documents and passports. Yadav was charged with arranging the visas.

Kiran allegedly taught the women flying abroad how to act like an MP's wife, and how to conduct before immigration officers.

Yadav told a court here that three Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MPs from Uttar Pradesh, Mitrasen Yadav, Ashok Rawat and Mohammed Tahir Khan, and Ramswaroop Koli of BJP from Rajasthan were also involved in the racket.