Punjab Lab Owner Arrested in US Visa Fraud Case Over Forged Certificate

Delhi Police have arrested the owner of a clinical laboratory in Punjab's Sultanpur Lodhi town in connection with a US visa fraud case, after a forged lab-technician experience certificate issued by his facility was submitted with a visa application.

The arrest, reported on October 2, underlines how document fraud linked to Punjab continues to surface in visa applications to Western countries — and how foreign missions are increasingly flagging such cases directly to Indian police.

The forged certificate

The certificate was submitted by 22-year-old Simranjit Kaur of Kapurthala along with her US visa application, claiming experience as a lab technician. She told investigators she had paid Rs 8,000 to Sarban Singh, the owner of Joshi Clinical Laboratory in Sultanpur Lodhi, for the document, Hindustan Times reported.

Experience certificates from medical and paramedical facilities carry weight in visa applications for healthcare-adjacent work, which is why forged versions have become a recurring feature of fraud cases flagged by embassies. In this instance, the document did not survive scrutiny.

Embassy complaint and case

The case traces back to a complaint received on March 24 from Jeffery B. Gieser, Overseas Criminal Investigator with the Regional Security Office of the US Embassy in New Delhi, flagging the suspected fraud. Delhi Police then registered a case at the Chanakyapuri police station under BNS sections 318, 336, 340 and 61, which cover cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.

DCP (New Delhi) Sachin Sharma, quoted in the report, said the investigation established that the certificate had been fabricated at Singh's laboratory, leading the police to Sultanpur Lodhi. Singh was picked up from Jalandhar earlier this week.

Sultanpur Lodhi, a historic town in Kapurthala district, has seen a steady outflow of young people seeking work abroad, and small private laboratories and training institutes in the region have repeatedly come under the scanner for issuing dubious certificates. Police have not yet said whether Joshi Clinical Laboratory was under watch before the embassy's complaint.

The arrest

Police seized the electronic device allegedly used to prepare the forged certificate, which investigators say will be examined to determine whether Singh had issued similar documents to other visa applicants. If more forged certificates surface, the case could widen considerably.

The seven-month gap between the embassy's March complaint and the October arrest suggests the police built the case methodically, verifying the document trail before moving against the lab owner. Further questioning is expected to establish the full extent of the racket.

Singh is expected to be produced before a court as the police seek his custodial interrogation to trace any wider network. The Regional Security Office of the US Embassy, which flagged the case, routinely refers suspected document fraud to local police — a channel that has produced several such arrests in Delhi and Punjab over the past two years.