Immigration officials in Bengaluru international airport have arrested a 22-year-old youth from Kerala who tried to fly off to the UK after producing fake documents through student visa, sources at the KempeGowda International Airport (KIAL) said on Wednesday.

The authorities have considered the case seriously as they have found a nexus of providing fake documents, including the UK student visa. The police have launched a hunt for the accused in Bengaluru and Kerala.

The accused person has been identified as Soju Thazhathu Veettil Shaji, from Wayanad in Kerala. The authorities have found forged documents and a fake marks card from Gulbarga University of Karnataka. The accused has been sent to police custody and police are investigating further into the case to unearth fake marks card racket.

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Sources at the airport said that the accused had booked a ticket on British Airways. The officers suspected the originality of the documents and questioned him. After being grilled, the accused stated that the documents were fake.

The accused had told the authorities that he managed to get a fake certificate by paying Rs 65,000 from one person by name Anurag in Bengaluru. Accused further confessed that initially he got in touch with Denny, who worked in an education consultancy in Kerala and through him he met Anurag.

Soju had paid Rs 9 lakh to Denny to arrange the UK student Visa and other documents. Anurag had arranged fake marks cards from N.V. Degree College of Gulbarga University.

The case has been booked under IPC sections 465 for forgery and 471 for using forged documents as genuine one. The police have launched a hunt for other accused persons in the case Anurag and Denny, who are named as second and third accused in the case.