Team Herald
PANJIM: The Crime Branch police registered a case against the husband of a Police Inspector (PI) and his two associates for alleged cheating, forgery, and duping several youth seeking jobs abroad.
The case has been registered against Ajay Shirodkar, his co-accused Sanket Shirodkar and Avesh Kakodkar for alleged offences including cheating, forgery, human trafficking, criminal conspiracy, and criminal intimidation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023. “All the accused are on the run, but are placed under surveillance,” say a police officer from the crime branch
Nitesh Naik, a resident of Nuvem, lodged a complaint stating that he paid a total of Rs 28 lakh to Ajay Shirodkar in 2024 after being promised a high-paying job in the USA. Ajay had assured him that all travel and immigration procedures would be legal and smooth, claiming he had already successfully sent many Goan job aspirants abroad.
Naik has alleged that Ajay provided forged documents and routed him illegally through multiple countries.
He was forced to stay in Amsterdam illegally, without adequate food and water while in transit. Subsequently, Ajay sent Naik on different forged documents and tickets to the Republic of Dominica via Sint Maarten and Port of Spain. Due to the forged documentation, Naik was denied boarding at Amsterdam. Upon contacting Ajay, the latter arranged a return ticket to Mumbai and assured him that there were multiple routes and that no one had ever returned to Goa, promising to still send him to the USA.
In October 2024, associate Avesh Kakodkar came to Mumbai and took USD 3,500 from Naik. A few days later, Naik was scheduled to travel from Mumbai to Qatar, then to São Paulo, and thereafter to El Salvador. However, the airline denied him boarding due to forged documentation. Ajay then took him to Bengaluru and arranged travel to Qatar. Two days later, in Qatar, Naik was given more forged documents and sent to El Salvador, but was detained by Brazilian immigration authorities and deported to Mumbai, according to the complaint.
Naik stated that he returned home on 29 November 2024 and learnt that his wife had suffered a miscarriage during his absence.
In December 2024, Naik undertook another journey, travelling to Chennai, Bangkok, China, and eventually Mexico. There, he was forced to hide in a jungle without food for two days and was later detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while attempting to cross the USA-Mexico border. He was jailed in the United States for four months. On 5 April 2025, he was deported from New York to Delhi and subsequently returned to Goa.
Meanwhile, other youth allegedly duped by Capt Shirodkar, along with former Margao councillor Pratima Coutinho, attempted to meet SP South Tikam Singh. The youth claimed that some of them were jailed in the USA before being deported. They demanded the immediate arrest of Capt Shirodkar. The aggrieved youth had also met Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who directed the police to arrest the accused.
PI Prashal Desai is investigating the case under the supervision of SP Rajesh Kumar. Meanwhile another complaint has been filed against the accused with the SP of the crime
Branch by Vishwesh Gawas and nine others that they too was cheated by the accused and demanded a probe into the job scam.