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New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has found several agents including three based in Russia behind tricking Indian students into Russia’s war against Ukraine, The Indian Express reported.
The details have emerged after the agency carried out searches at around 15 places in seven cities across India.
These agents allegedly duped Indian students under the pretext of giving them admission to shady private universities in Russia offering free or discounted visa extensions and a discount on fees.
When they reached in Russia, agents took possession of their passports and forced them to fight the Ukraine war, NDTV reported.
The CBI conducted raids on Thursday in places including Delhi, Mumbai, Ambala, Chandigarh, Madurai, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai.
The CBI is probing the role of embassy employees after finding one agency in Delhi sent around 180 people to Russia, mostly on student visas.
The CBI in its first information report (FIR) field on March 6 claimed that the agents/human traffickers duped Indian students offering them admission to dubious private universities in Russia.
‘…It has been learnt that on reaching Russia, passports of these Indian nationals were taken/snatched by agents in Russia. They were being trained in combat roles and provided with Russian army uniform and batches. Later, these Indian nationals are/were being deployed at front bases in Russia-Ukraine war zone against their wishes and put their lives in grave danger,’ the FIR stated.
The central agency reportedly claimed that some of those victims were seriously injured in the war.