A disgraced Indian university student attempted to marry a 13-year-old girl to secure his UK visa status, a court heard. Vijay Mundrathi, 41, contacted the teenager - who was actually a decoy - via Facebook and was “sexually explicit throughout” their messages, a court was told.
Graphic messages and planned meet-up
He sent graphic videos of himself showering naked and asked if the decoy’s “six-year-old” sister would be awake when they had sex in her room if he visited. In April this year Mundrathi - a post graduate student who was studying at the University of Sheffield - planned to travel to Doncaster where he believed the girl lived, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
Prior to the meet-up he told the decoy he needed a “British girl to marry” and he would buy her a “house” when she was “old enough”. But upon arrival he was snared by paedophile hunter group 'Ride to Jail' in Doncaster after travelling there from Sheffield by train.
Detention and other offences
Eugene Cross, prosecuting, said Mundrathi was detained by vigilantes and was found in possession of “prosecco, rings, and his passport”. Over two weeks between April 8 and April 25, Mundrathi also was chatting online sexually with three other decoys who he believed to be girls aged 14, the court heard. The court heard that his UK visa had run out.
Sentencing and mitigation
Barrister Chris Aspinall, representing the student said prior to the offences he had lost his “life savings” in a “crypto scam” and had failed to extend his student visa in a “catalogue of misfortune”. The barrister added: “There were clearly thoughts of marrying a young girl to secure his status - it was ill-thought out in terms of the age range of the girls he sought after.”
Judge Rachel Harrison jailed Mundrathi, whose address was University of Sheffield, Hoyle Street., for three years and 10 months and placed him on the sex offenders register for life. He was handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, ordered to pay a £228 victim surcharge, and also given a baring order. Mundrathi had admitted four counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and one count of arranging sexual activity with child at an earlier hearing.
