A prominent regional political party from India's Haryana state has written to authorities in the United States to alarm them about forged party letterheads being used to seek asylum.
In a letter to the US Department of Justice, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) party "cautioned" the DoJ against those using their party name to claim persecution and seek asylum in America.
Speaking with Sputnik, office secretary of the INLD, Nachhatar Singh Malhan, said that they had written a letter to the DoJ and the US embassy in India on June 10.
Malhan stated that those involved in the scheme are charged a hefty amount to forge such documents and that they are investigating if any party member is involved in the matter.
In 2022, more than 3,400 Indians came to the US seeking asylum, but it is unclear how many cases involving the forged INLD documents have occured.
Those involved in the scheme "are living in the USA without any valid documents, and to get citizenship of your country, they have prepared forged documents in the name of INLD, a regional political party of Haryana (India). Only the office of INLD, situated in Chandigarh (India), is authorized to issue such documents. Nobody else is permitted to issue any certificate in this respect," the letter states.
Fake Admission Scam and Deportation
The letter also came against the backdrop of a recent fake admission scam in Canada in which a Punjab state-based agent gave forged college admission letters to Indian students belonging to a Canadian University.
Now, 700 Indian students are facing deportation threats from the country.