Accountant cheated out of Rs 20L by visa agent

Surat: A city accountant, Hardik Dadhaniya (33), was allegedly cheated out of Rs 19.83 lakh by one Vishal Patel from the UK, who had promised to get him a UK visa. Dadhaniya had met Vishal Patel through a Surat-based agent, Akshay Patel, in 2023. Akshay ran a firm called Keshav Immigration and Dadhaniya contacted him for a UK visa in 2023. Akshay quoted Rs 24 lakh for the visa process and introduced Dadhaniya to Vishal. As Dadhaniya could not afford Rs 24 lakh, he told Akshay not to proceed. Vishal then called Dadhaniya, promising to get him the visa for Rs 21.5 lakh, and instructing him not to reveal this to Akshay. Dadhaniya paid the money, according to Vishal Patel's instructions, to certain men in Surat. Vishal failed to procure the visa and did not return Rs. 19.83 lakh from the money Dadhaniya had paid him. Dadhaniya lodged a complaint with Sarthana police, based on which a cheating complaint was filed on Thursday against Vishal Patel.

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