Bobby Kataria part of human trafficking network, says NIA

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, July 19

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today alleged that YouTuber Bobby Kataria was committing fraud by posting videos and offering jobs in different countries despite not having a licence.

Used to lure youth for overseas jobs

• The NIA has been investigating a case of human trafficking against Kataria for sending people to Laos
• The agency took over the probe after an FIR was registered by the Gurugram police on May 27
• Opposing his bail, the NIA on Friday submitted before the Special Court that the case of sending people to Laos was related to “running an organised human trafficking syndicate”

The NIA has been investigating a case of human trafficking against Kataria for sending people to Laos. The agency took over the probe after an FIR was registered by the Gurugram police on May 27.

Opposing his bail, the agency today submitted before the NIA Special Court in Panchkula that the case of sending people to Laos was related to “running an organised trafficking syndicate by luring Indian youth for jobs in foreign countries” by Kataria.

Arun Kumar, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, and his friend Manish Tomar had contacted Kataria after watching his videos on his Instagram account Bobby Kataria-official and YouTube channel ‘MBK Ka Sath’, where he was facilitating overseas employment. They visited his office in Sector 109, Gurugram.

Kumar was assured a job in the UAE and he paid registration amount of Rs 2,000 for the same and later paid Rs 50,000 to Kataria’s firm MBK Global Visa Pvt Ltd. At Kataria’s behest, he further paid Rs 1 lakh into the account of one Ankit Shokeen. Manish Tomar had also met Kataria and paid Rs 2,000 as the registration fee. He was assured a job in Singapore and like Kumar, he also transferred Rs 2.57 lakh to Kataria’s personal account on different dates.

However, both were sent to Laos, the NIA told the court. In Laos, they met a person named Abhi, who claimed to be Kataria’s friend and was a Pakistani agent. “The next day, Abhi brought them to the ‘Golden Triangle’ where they met Ankit Shokeen and Nitish Sharma alias Rocky and were further escorted to an undisclosed Chinese company where they were physically assaulted, their passports confiscated, and eventually coerced into committing cyber fraud,” said the NIA.

The NIA further said, “They were threatened that failure to comply with the instructions would prevent them from returning to their country and their lives would be at risk and their passports would also be torn and discarded.”

Arun Kumar, the complainant, reported that there were about 150 Indians, including women, who were brought to the company through human trafficking and held hostage by brokers like Kataria on the pretext of providing jobs, claimed the NIA. The matter came to light as Arun Kumar and Manish Tomar managed to escape after two days with the help of the Indian embassy.