Scotland Yard detectives say they are still in the dark about the whereabouts of five women cricketers from Punjab who went missing within days of their arrival in the UK.
Their disappearance led to speculation that the missing women and the businessman who organised their trip, Ravi Sharma, are part of an elaborate people smuggling racket.
Today Sharma claimed that two of the women, Rajwant Kaur and Parvesh Rani, had rejoined their team mates. He added that two others, Baljeet Kaur and Ekta Andotra, had contacted him through their solicitor in an attempt to get back the passports he is holding on their behalf.
That leaves only one missing person, Mandeep Virk, who is due to return to Jalandhar along with her team mates when her visa expires next month.
Scotland Yard detectives who have been following the case told rediff.com they did not know of any new developments.
"We cannot confirm any of the details that Mr Sharma has told the media," a Scotland Yard spokesman explained on Monday.
Last week, Jalandhar chief of police Inspector General Joginder Paul Birdi was quoted as saying, "This is a very serious case which we are working on.
"For some years we have known that people were using wrestling and hockey tours to the UK, America and Canada to sidestep immigration regulations. This appears to be the first time cricket has been used."
Sharma has been under pressure to talk to police both in India and the UK following information that his Jalandhar and Bradford-based company, Lynex Tours and Travels, is being used to organise sporting tours of Britain.
Some Jalandhar students have said how they were approached by Mr Sharma and told that in return for the equivalent of £2,600 he would provide a six-month UK tourist visa.
One student at HMV College is quoted as telling the UK media, "He said that he would get us a six-month visa to the UK if we were to pay him up to two million rupees. He also promised to get us a job there after the matches."
The principal of the college, Puran Prabha Sharma, commented last week, "These so-called sporting clubs are fakes. It's illegal and it's a scam and I hope that vulnerable young people won't be tempted."
In the scam Mr Sharma was allegedly operating, the team would fly to Britain, complete their scheduled tour, and fly home to India as a group.
Because of the six-month visa, the players were able to return legitimately to Britain individually, where they would stay to find work.
Sources said it is possible that some of the members of each team were genuinely travelling to play sport and did not return to Britain, adding an extra veneer of authenticity to the racket.
But when the current women's cricket team applied for visas, the plan hit a major problem, instead of six-month visas the players and Mr Sharma were given permission to stay in Britain for only three weeks.
It is thought that the short-stay visas forced the five women to take the drastic action of disappearing in the course of the "tour", leaving Mr Sharma calling the police in London to claim they were "missing" so that his trick would not be uncovered.
Immigration officials have not begun formally looking for the five because they are entitled to stay in Britain until their visas run out next month.
