Nasscom in touch with authorities over i-flex

Expressing serious concern over the detention of software production company i-flex solutions' Dutch subsidiary chief executive Senthil Kumar in London on alleged visa violations, Nasscom president Kiran Karnik on Friday said the software association was in constant touch with various authorities for resolving the matter.

"Kumar is still in detention. It is an immediate point of concern. We are in touch with various authorities to see that the issue is resolved quickly," Karnik told PTI in New Delhi.

British police on Thursday detained Kumar in London at the request of Netherlands alleging violation of visa regulations by i-flex employees.

Karnik said the issue revolved around visa technicalities.

"Nasscom would closely work with the IT industry and embassies of various countries to ensure a greater understanding on visa related issues so that these kinds of problems do not crop in up future," he said.

This is the third incident of Indian IT professionals being detained or arrested on charges ranging from violation of immigration law to commercial dispute.

Earlier, Polaris CEO Arun Jain was detained by Indonesian police in December 2002 on a complaint by Bank Artha Graha in a commercial dispute. He was released after New Delhi took up the ill-treatment of Jain with Jakarta.

More recently, about 270 IT professionals in Malaysia were arrested in what the local authorities claimed was a drive against illegal immigrants. Malaysia subsequently apologised for mis-treating genuine workers and launched a probe into the incident.