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America: A surprising case has come to light from Arkansas, America. Here the police have arrested an Indian origin person Kapil Raghu for selling perfume labeled opium. His visa was revoked, putting his legal status in the US at risk. Raghu has demanded restoration of American visa.

According to the information, the incident happened in May, when the police recovered a small bottle labeled opium from Kapil’s car during a traffic checking. The police thought he was selling opium and arrested him. Whereas Kapil kept telling them again and again that he was not selling opium but it was just a designer perfume bottle.

Threat of deportation looming

The Arkansas State Crime Laboratory later confirmed that the bottle contained perfume, not opium. Despite this, Raghu had to spend three days in jail. During this time the officials claimed that the visa had expired, which his lawyer termed as an administrative mistake. After his arrest, Raghu was sent to a federal immigration center in Louisiana, where he was detained for 30 days. The drug charges were dropped on May 20, but his visa was canceled during his detention, putting him at risk of deportation.

According to Raghu’s lawyer, he has now been declared “deportable”, which means he could be forced to leave the country for any minor offense or rule violation. This has affected their ability to hold down a job and support their family.

Crisis on family due to arrest

Raghu’s wife Alhali Mace said that this incident has put a lot of stress on the family. She is working three jobs to meet the legal expenses. Kapil’s daughter was forced to miss spending time with her father and the family’s savings were depleted.

The lawyers also said the police violated the Vienna Convention as they did not inform the Indian Consulate of the arrest, which ensures legal aid to arrested foreign nationals.