Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
Continuing investigation into the passport racket busted by Basavanagudi police of South Division in November last year, the officials pinned down another prime accused who was on the run since the racket came to light.
The accused identified as Shibu from Gujarat working in Bengaluru having links with many touts in Srilanka to find a clients for him.
The accused was working as chef in a hotel in France for few years where he got in touch with many Srilankan nationals and started the racket.
After he returned to Bengaluru he started to get people from Srilanka through his network who would come to India through porous borders and land in Bengaluru.
The accused would then get Aadhar,school certificate, Driving Licence and other documents for them through fraudulent means to apply for the passport .
The accused and his associates had even roped in two policemen who comes for passport verification and bribe them heavily to get the approval .
The two policemen were later suspended from duty pending departmental inquiry ordered by city police commissioner,CH Pratap Reddy.
The accused would charge Rs.45,000 per passport and said to have helped to get around 50 such passports so far.
Many Srilankan Nationals and even people with criminal background were beneficiaries who would buy the passport to go to gulf countries or to escape from the police dragnet,a senior officer said .
Based on the information provided by Ameen Seth,A1, arrested earlier,the police track down Shibu and arrested him.
The police are now on the lookout for another accused who is on the run.
How the scam came to light :
The Pension Mohalla police in Hassan approached Basavanagudi police,seeking information about Sadiq Pasha,a habitual offender wanted in theft cases,his photo matched that of Karim available in the passport.
The Basavanagudi police had cleared his passport in December 2020.Based on the inquiry a fresh criminal case was registered against four persons on October 2022 for further investigation.
asked on details provided in the police verification application, information was gathered about the passport agents and four people who are from Sri lanka and benificaries of the racket,two residents each of Bengaluru and Mangaluru — were arrested.
Further, it was revealed that five Sri Lankans,including a woman,got passports by obtaining fake IDs as Indian nationals,and were arrested.They had come to India on Sri Lankan passports.
They intended to go to France to get placements as a teacher,medical assistant and drivers.
As it was not easy to get a French visa due to the crisis in Sri Lanka, they got Indian passports fraudulently,” police said.
Investigations also revealed that six persons with a criminal history have gone abroad using passports obtained using fake documents.
A habitual offender from Chikkamagaluru with 36 burglary cases against him,and his brother who has 15 cases three from Mangaluru for involvement in serious offences like murder, dacoity and extortion have gone to foreign countries.
A detailed probe is being carried out by the Basavangudi Police he added.
Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,CH Pratap Reddy has appreciated Addl CP West,Sandeep Patil,DCP South,P Krishnakant,ACP,KV Srinivas,PIs as,Subramanyaswamy ML,Girish Nayak,Manjunath,PSIs,as,Hariprasad BS,Manoj Naganori,and whole crime staff who were part of unearthing the fake passport racket with their timely action and tireless efforts with meticulous investigation has helped in busting the racket a suitable reward will be given to whole team he added.
