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New Delhi: Police in Ghaziabad busted a racket that fraudulently helped provide fake passports to at least 24 people. All the passports were issued on the same address and mobile number, officials said.
According to police, the racket used a fake residential address and fraudulently obtained over two dozen passports from the Delhi Passport Office. Five people, including a postman, have been arrested by the police.
How racket came to light
The case came to light after the Regional Passport Officer wrote to the police in December last year, suspecting discrepancies in some applications. The officer flagged more than 20 applications in which multiple passports were issued on the same address and the same mobile number was used repeatedly.
Following the passport officer's letter, an investigation was initiated, in which it was found that the applicants never resided at the addresses mentioned in the passport applications, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rural) Surendra Nath Tiwari told PTI.
FIR filed; postman, 4 arrested
Based on the probe, an FIR was registered against 26 persons, including a postman and a woman. Five accused, including the postman, have been arrested so far, police said.
According to the DCP, the postman, identified as Arun Kumar, was also part of the racket and would charge Rs 2,000 per passport for delivering the documents directly to members of the gang instead of the listed addresses.
Kumar told the police during interrogation that two members of the racket -- Prakash Subba and Vivek -- contacted him five months ago, and offered him to pay to Rs 2,000 for every delivery if he agreed to hand them over, police said.
Intelligence agencies are also probing the wider nexus behind the racket and further investigation is underway, police said.
