Holi overstayers update: Delhi organiser blames "fraudulent agent", fuels visa scam doubts
Charu Das is the founder and director of New Delhi-based CD Foundation. (Photo: Facebook/Charu Das)
CD Foundation's response discloses a key new detail about how the delegation may have been assembled.
A Delhi-based organisation linked to a controversial Holi cultural trip to New Zealand last month has blamed a "fraudulent agent" for immigration irregularities, adding fuel to doubts the visit may have been used as a front to obtain visas.
In its first public response since the issue surfaced, CD Foundation said it had "no involvement whatsoever in any immigration violation, visa misuse, unlawful stay, or illegal migration activity".
"Any suggestion implying that our organisation facilitated, encouraged, or participated in such actions is completely incorrect and without basis," the organisation said in a statement.
The statement comes after revelations that Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is tracking down at least 11 of the 18 people who travelled to take part in the Holi celebrations with Bollywood singer Shibani Kashyap have overstayed their visas.
Of the seven others, three have returned to India while four have a valid month-long tourist visa.
New Zealand hockey gambled £500 on an Indian team a century ago. It's paying off even today Crowds of 25,000, an astonishing 80 goals by one player and a sporting revolution that helped Indian migrants find acceptance.
Tamaki says he was detained in Australia and sent back from airport over Sikhs, Muslims remarks The Destiny Church leader claims Australian authorities considered his presence a risk to Sikh and Muslim communities.
Being Indian and Kiwi at once. How Ajaz Patel's 10-wicket haul brought his two worlds together A historic moment in Mumbai left the Black Caps spinner reflecting on something far deeper than cricket.
Kashyap has since said she didn't know anyone was travelling from India to perform with her, and she has called for an investigation.
INZ says visas had initially been sought for a delegation of 29 people, with support from the Consulate General of India in Auckland, which wrote to immigration authorities backing the cultural programme linked to the Holi celebrations.
Shibani Kashyap performing in Pukekohe on February 21, 2026. (Supplied photo)
CD Foundation is a New Delhi-based cultural organisation that describes itself as working on international cultural programming and exchanges.
It was also associated with events in and around Auckland in August last year to mark India's Independence Day, including a performance at Dew Drops Centre where prime minister Christopher Luxon danced with Shibani Kashyap.
The group said its role in the more recent trip had been "exploited by certain unscrupulous elements for purposes entirely beyond our knowledge, mandate, or consent".
CD Foundation's response also discloses a key new detail about how the delegation may have been assembled. The organisation said it is "in the process of initiating legal action in India against the concerned agent for fraud and misrepresentation".
In migration fraud cases, intermediaries often recruit travellers seeking entry into another country and organise group travel around cultural or community events that can support visa applications.
CD Foundation said it had "already informed Immigration New Zealand of its complete non-involvement in promoting or supporting any form of illegal migration".
It added that authorities had been asked to "take appropriate action against all those who have overstayed and violated local immigration rules".
The organisation has also appealed to members of the Indian diaspora not to facilitate immigration violations, saying such actions "bring discredit not only to those directly involved but also to the larger community".
It's still unclear who recruited the travellers who arrived in New Zealand as part of the cultural delegation, and how the group was assembled for the trip.
