Katara (50), who was elected to the Lok Sabha for a second consecutive term in 2004 from Dahod, allegedly accepted nearly Rs 30 lakh from the families of the woman, 26-year-old Paramjeet Kaur, and 17-year-old Amarjeet Singh from Hoshiarpur to fly them to Toronto on the passports of his wife and son.

The MP and his wife Shardaben, 45, have diplomatic passports. Amarjeet reportedly travelled on the passport of his son Rajesh Katara. The names of his sons in the election affidavit are Bhavesh and Amit.

“Paramjeet Kaur told us that she had contacted and paid money to a Punjab-based travel agent who had promised her safe passage to Toronto with the Parliamentarian,” said an airport police officer. Police are now trying to track down the travel agent.

In an immediate damage-control operation, the BJP suspended Katara from the party. Leader of Opposition L K Advani and BJP chief Rajnath Singh ordered his suspension barely hours after his arrest. “He has been suspended from the party on directions of the Leader of the Opposition and the party chief. A show-cause notice is also being sent to him,” Vijay Kumar Malhotra, the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, said.

Katara, a university-level sprinter and a VHP leader from Gujarat’s tribal district, won the 2004 election with a margin of just over 300 votes amidst allegations of bogus voting.

His elder son, Bhavesh Katara, was arrested in February for loot and murder in Jalod village during the post-Godhra carnage in 2002.

According to police officers, the MP landed at the airport just about half an hour before the Toronto flight’s (AI-187) scheduled departure. “It seems it was a ploy,” said a senior airport police officer. His personal staff immediately went to the Air-India counter and requested them to expedite the process as “MP saab was waiting.” “The airport officials immediately issued three boarding passes, for Katara, Kaur and the boy,” said a police officer.

Even the airport immigration cleared the three passports without checking them properly. “It was only later, when the boarding passes and passports were being checked by Air-India officials, that they noticed discrepancies and alerted immigration officials,” said a senior police official.

He added that AI officials found that the pictures and age mentioned in the passports were not matching with those of the passengers.

The three were detained and questioned for four-five hours by officials from intelligence agencies. Later in the afternoon, they were handed over to the airport police for further investigation.

Police are also verifying whether the MP had undertaken any foreign trips with his wife and son earlier and whether the persons who travelled with him then were genuine. The MP has two sons and a daughter.

Kaur is reported to have told officials that her husband was staying in Toronto. Amarjeet told the interrogators that one his uncles was in Toronto.

The police have still not revealed about the role of the private secretary of the MP who is said to have facilitated the entire deal and told airport officials that the MP was going to Toronto with his wife.