Fake documents in a client's visa file: when the FIR names you

A client's bank statement doesn't add up, or an employment letter doesn't match the pay slips, and later a Chanakyapuri FIR over fake documents in a client's visa file names your desk too. It can happen to agents who never forged anything, because a file traces back to whoever prepared it.

Delhi Police has registered several of these FIRs on US Embassy complaints since late 2024, and court outcomes in such cases have split: one consultant got anticipatory bail, another was acquitted after ten years, and applicants who blamed their agents stayed in the case. Here's what gets an agent named, and the checklist, declaration and log that make your process your defence.

How a fake document traces back to your desk

The applicant often names the agent first, at the interview, once a document doesn't hold up. Investigators then work backward through whatever carries your fingerprints: the laptop the form was filled on, the office printer and phone, WhatsApp chats and call records, and in multi-file frauds, IP addresses shared across consultants and document vendors.

A Crime Branch case registered on 27 February 2025 against more than 30 suspects across Punjab, Haryana and other northern states grew out of a US Embassy probe that traced many IP addresses to visa consultants and document vendors, per Business Today. A later FIR, dated 28 April 2025 at PS Chanakyapuri, named an applicant and his agent over a fake employment letter and pay slip; the applicant had agreed to pay the agent ₹15 lakh on approval, per The Tribune.

This post covers financial and employment papers; fabricated bookings are covered separately in dummy tickets and dummy hotel bookings. Blaming the agent doesn't clear the client either: a trial court convicted an applicant whose signatures were on forged ITRs, though he said an agent had filled his form (Patiala House Courts, 3 June 2026).

What the police need to charge the agent, and what courts have said

An agent isn't automatically liable for a client's fake document. Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, using a forged document as genuine is an offence only if you knew, or had reason to believe, it was forged (BNS gazette, MHA):

Section	Covers	Maximum punishment	Notes
BNS 336(3)	Forgery meant for cheating	7 years plus fine	Covers making the document
BNS 340(2)	Using a document you know or have reason to believe is forged	Same as forgery	The hinge for agents
BNS 318(4)	Cheating that gets someone to hand over property	7 years plus fine	Covers the money paid
BNS 319(2)	Cheating by personation	5 years, fine, or both	Added in some FIRs

Courts draw the line at knowledge, not contact with paperwork. A consultant running a licensed IELTS centre and travel agency got anticipatory bail, with the court noting that merely relying on documents presumed genuine, "without any role in their creation or verification," doesn't establish involvement, and that his printer and phone were already seized (Delhi High Court bail order, 28 July 2025). A consultant who filled a client's form on his own laptop, for ₹35,000, was acquitted more than ten years after the offence because the prosecution couldn't prove he knew the papers were false, though the court recorded "grave suspicions" against him (Patiala House Courts, 13 January 2026). Applicants who blamed their agents fared worse: where an education agent had about ₹30.1 lakh deposited in one applicant's father's account for a few days to show a balance, the court refused to quash the FIR and called the applicants perpetrators of fraud, not victims (Delhi High Court, 17 December 2024).

Agents with no proven role in making the paper got relief, slowly; arranged papers and parked money kept applicants in the case.

The intake checklist, document by document

Run every document through its own issuer, not the client's word. Most of these checks are free and take minutes, as of October 2026.

Document	Check it this way	Red flag	If it fails
Bank statement	Client opens net banking in front of you, or collects it from the branch; match name, account number and closing balance; read six months, not the last page	A large credit days before the statement date; round-figure deposits the client can't explain	Ask for the source in writing; if it was arranged, decline
ITR (acknowledgement)	Pre-login "ITR Status" on the income tax e-filing portal with the acknowledgement number and an OTP (valid 15 minutes, 3 attempts)	Status not found; income far below what other letters claim	Don't use it; never file a return prepared for the visa
CA net-worth certificate	UDIN present and checked on ICAI's UDIN portal; figures reconcile with the statements and ITR in the same file	No UDIN, or it doesn't verify	Leave it out; never ask a CA to certify without papers
Employment letter, pay slips	Call HR on the number from the company's own website, not the letterhead; check the employer's GSTIN on the GST portal's taxpayer search	Payer name in the statement differs from the employer; company not found	Ask HR to confirm by email from the company domain; otherwise decline

The ITR status check tells you whether the acknowledgement number is a real return and whether it has been verified or processed, not what income it declares, so have the client also log in and pull the ITR-V in front of you. Returns for FY 2025-26 and earlier years are filed under section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961; for tax year 2026-27 onward, the return section is 263 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (ICAI).

Red flags that mean you decline the file

Treat these as documentary and behavioural signals only, never community or home state.

• A fee weighted toward payment once the visa is granted: court records describe ₹5 lakh and ₹10 lakh promised on approval against ₹25,000 to ₹35,000 upfront, and the April 2025 FIR a ₹15 lakh payment after the visa.
• A client who offers, or asks you to arrange, someone to get the papers ready.
• An employer, firm or course that doesn't show up on any public register.
• A balance that appeared days before the statement date, with no explained source.
• Pay slips with no matching salary credits in the statement.
• A request to put your own email or phone on the application form.
• A request to coach interview answers to fit a destination.

A promised job abroad, not a holiday, carries its own rules; see the Emigration Act for work-visa counters. On 19 May 2025 the US also announced visa restrictions on owners, executives and senior officials of India-based travel agencies knowingly facilitating illegal immigration (Newsweek): exposure for the owner personally.

The client declaration and intake log

Have every applicant sign this before you touch their file.

APPLICANT DOCUMENT DECLARATION

Applicant name: _______________  Passport no: _______________
Destination: _______________  Visa type: _______________
Agency: _______________

I confirm that every document listed below was issued to me by the
bank, employer, CA, tax department or other issuer named on it, and
that I obtained it myself:
  1. _______________________________  dated __________
  2. _______________________________  dated __________
  3. _______________________________  dated __________

I did not obtain any document through anyone introduced by the agency
or by a "document arranger," and I have not been asked to.

The information given for my application form is true and complete.
The agency has typed the form from this information and these
documents, and from no other source.

The email address and mobile number on my application are my own.

I understand that false documents can lead to visa refusal, a bar on
future visas, and criminal proceedings against me personally.

Signature: _______________  Date: _______________  Place: _______________
Received by (agency staff): _______________

Careful: A declaration records your process; it is not immunity. If staff knew or had reason to believe a document was false, BNS s.340(2) applies regardless of what the client signed.

Also log each document: applicant, date, who verified it and how, and the decision with reason. Store scans and this log securely; see passport scans on WhatsApp: the DPDP Act. The court that acquitted the consultant in January 2026 noted he examined no witness to show he ran a genuine consultancy (Patiala House Courts, 13 January 2026); an engagement letter, invoices and this log are that evidence.

When the client fills or submits the file themselves

• Only booking the appointment or courier? Say so in writing, and don't type unchecked documents into any form.
• Filling the form yourself means every document in it is on your laptop and your process must cover it.
• Use the client's own email and mobile number on the application, never the agency's.

You find out an old file had a fake document

1. Stop work on the client's other pending files.
2. Preserve everything: chats, emails, laptop files, payments. Don't delete anything; deleted chats are an allegation police have raised (Delhi HC bail order, 28 July 2025), and making evidence disappear to shield an offender is a separate offence under BNS s.238 (gazette).
3. Don't call the client to fix or re-explain the documents.
4. Brief a criminal lawyer before any statement, and decide with them whether to report it: the US Mission India publishes fraud-reporting emails per post, but doesn't disclose what follows (US Mission India).
5. Review every other open file from the same client or referrer.

The client has stakes too: the US fraud ground sets no time limit in the provision (8 U.S.C. 1182), and Canada keeps an applicant inadmissible for five years for misrepresentation made directly or indirectly (IRPA s.40). Already named in a complaint? The first-24-hours drill and bail process are in the police complaint playbook for agents.

Common questions

Client ne fake bank statement diya, kya agent pe case banega?

Ho sakta hai, haan. Being named isn't a conviction: one consultant got anticipatory bail because nothing tied him to making the papers, and another was acquitted because the prosecution couldn't prove he knew they were false. That took a bail order in one case and more than ten years in the other, so don't treat the client's word as protection.

How do I verify a client's ITR for a visa file?

Use the pre-login ITR Status service on the e-filing portal with the acknowledgement number and an OTP; it shows whether the number is a real return and whether it was verified or processed, not the income figures. Have the client also log in and download the ITR-V in front of you.

How do I check the UDIN on a CA certificate?

Since 1 February 2019, ICAI has required an 18-digit UDIN on every certificate a practising CA signs, and you can check it on ICAI's UDIN portal. No UDIN, or one that fails to verify, means you don't file it.

Can a visa agent be arrested for a client's fake documents?

Possibly, if police believe you knew or had reason to believe a document was forged (BNS 340(2), punished as if you had forged it), or cheated along with the client (BNS 318(4), up to seven years). In the 2025 Delhi case above, police served notices first and the consultant got anticipatory bail; in a 2022 case, all five accused were arrested before getting bail.

The short version

• A client's fake document can put your name in the FIR too; the applicant often names the agent first, at interview.
• Liability turns on whether you had reason to believe a document was forged (BNS s.340(2)), not whether you merely handled it.
• Verify every document through its own issuer: bank statement by net banking, ITR on the e-filing portal, CA certificate by UDIN, employer by their own website's number.
• Decline a fee weighted toward approval, an offered document arranger, or a balance that appeared days before the statement date.
• One signed declaration and one verification log per applicant; neither is immunity, but both are evidence of a real process.
• Use the client's own email and phone on every form, never the agency's.
• If an old file turns out fraudulent, stop, preserve everything, call a lawyer before the client.