Three witnesses took the stand this morning as the illegal immigrant case continued in Suva Magistrate Court.

The first witness Pruthvi Raj originally from India and now residing at Wainibuku 9 miles informed the Court that he was told by a Surendra that there were a lot of jobs available in Fiji after which his visa was arranged and he arrived in the country on 15th May, and stayed with Sridhar Nima-gadda and then went on to stay with a person named Rahul where he had to pay his own rent.

Raj also informed the court that he never worked for Orient Enterprises, where he was supposed to work when he had applied for his visa. The defense counsel then asked Raj if he had a visa and was not smuggled into the country.

Raj said that he had a visa.

He also informed the court that he paid 200,000 indian rupees to a person named Surendra, adding that he never paid anyone in Fiji.

The second witness Fariyal Nisha Ali informed the court that she had worked for Rohit Prasad Trivedi in a company called Orient Enterprises.

The third witness and the Director for Hansons Supermarket Suresh Dutt informed the court that Surendra Menon approached him to employ one of the Indian National by the name of Ram Prasad Chala and when he was approached again, he agreed to employ Chala however he did not check if he had a work permit.

He also told the court that he had trusted Surendra Menon as he had known him for the past 14 years.

Three local businessmen, Rohit Prasad Trivedi, Satnam Singh, Surendra Menon and Indian national Sridha Nimmagadda are charged with various counts of people smuggling for allegedly luring the 13 Indian Nationals into Fiji, after promising them jobs, in exchange for large sums of money.

The case continues in Magistrate Court this afternoon.