Kochi immigration firm faces fresh cheating case as CEO returns to custody

The Palarivattom police have registered an additional case against the founder and chief executive of a Kochi-based immigration services company, widening a probe into a string of complaints alleging that the firm's management collected money for overseas jobs that never materialised.

The new first information report names Parvathy Maya Shaji, founder and CEO of Amster Overseas, along with company manager Abhijith and general manager Aju K. Mathew. It was filed on Saturday, two days after Ms. Shaji was arrested in two earlier cases of a similar nature.

The complaint behind the latest case came from a young man from Ponnani in Malappuram district. He alleges that the firm took ₹1.48 lakh from him in 2023 after promising a warehouse job in Poland. The alleged transaction dates back three years, though the case has been registered only now.

Ms. Shaji was arrested by the Palarivattom police on Thursday after being detained at Thiruvananthapuram on her return from abroad. On Saturday, with her police custody period over, she was sent back to judicial custody.

The two earlier cases rest on complaints from individuals in Erumapetty in Thrissur district and Mamala in Ernakulam, who say they were cheated after being offered jobs in Armenia and Poland respectively. Several other people, including Ms. Shaji's husband Aneesh Menon, have also been named as accused in those cases.

Police sources said no complaints have so far been registered at other police stations against the accused. They added that more people have been approaching the police since news of the arrest spread, and that the company has begun refunding money it had received from several of them on the promise of work visas. According to the sources, these repayments have followed only after the cases were registered.