MP, woman held at Delhi airport

CAUGHT: Katara and the woman were detained at the immigration terminal at the Delhi airport.

J & K | Chhattisgarh | Delhi | MP |
Mizoram | Rajasthan

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

26/11: Terror comes precariously close

Featured Slideshows

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been caught in an embarrassing situation with a Gujarat MP Babubhai Katara being held for trying to take another woman on his wife’s passport on a flight to Toronto.

“A show cause notice has been issued to Katara and he should reply in 10 days,” said senior BJP leader V K Malhotra.

Katara was detained at the immigration terminal at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday morning after he was caught helping a woman, identified as Paramjeet Kaur, travel on his wife Shardaben Katara’s passport.

Katara and the woman were arrested at 0730 hrs, IST. The MP was subsequently taken to Patiala House Court in the city. He has been booked under section - 419 , 422 , 468 , 471.

Unconfirmed sources said that this could be more than a case of impersonation, hinting at human trafficking.

Sources said Paramjeet Kaur had paid Katara Rs 35,00,000 to be taken to Toronto. There was reportedly a 14-year-old boy identified as Amer Jeet alias Rajesh who was also travelling with them.

While Katara and the boy had valid passports, Paramjeet was travelling on Katara’s wife’s passport.

Katara and Paramjit were scheduled to board the Air-India flight 187 to Toronto.

Immigration officials detained the two for questioning and later handed them over to the police, who have now arrested them.

The BJP said on Wednesday afternoon that if the charges against Katara were proven, action would be taken against him.

The BJP MP is from the Dohad constituency in Gujarat and was elected to 13th Lok Sabha in 1999.

From 1999-2000, he was a member of the Committee on Urban and Rural Development.

In 2004, he was re-elected to 14 Lok Sabha (second term) as a member of the Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests.