Police bust passport racket, five arrested

Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police on Friday busted an alleged racket of agents which used to provide forged Verification Certificates and other documents required to procure a Passport under the Tatkal Scheme by an applicant.

Police has arrested five accused in this connection who have been identified as Rakesh Kumar Dubey (34), Jitender Singh (36), Shatrunjay Singh alias Rachit (27), Amit Sahu alias Guddu (41) and Mujeebur Rehman (48).

On March 18, an FIR was registered by EOW after it received a complaint from Regional Passport Officer, Delhi. It was reported that those citizens who applied for Passports under TATKAL category were required to submit a "Verification Certificate" from a competent authority. "During scrutiny of the Verification Certificates of about 60 applicants who were issued passports during last year, it was found that the Verification Certificates submitted by them were actually not issued by the concerned authorities and were prepared using forged letter heads by the agents who facilitated the filing of the applications," said DCP (EOW) B K Singh.

The applicants who had submitted such certificates were examined by the police who stated that they were charged extra fees by the agents for submitting the applications, facilitating the verification certificate and taking online appointment.

"The Passports were issued by the RPO but during the post verification, the officials were taken aback when it emerged that the Verification Certificates submitted with the applications were forged. In some cases, even documents like Birth Certificate and Voter Card submitted for proof of date of birth and address were also found to be forged," said Singh.

Police collected documents submitted by 60 applicants from the Passport Office and found that the Verification Certificates were prepared using the letter heads and official rubber stamps of officials of various Govt Departments including GAIL, DRDO and AAI. When police contacted these officials in whose names the "Verification Certificates' were purportedly issued, they expressed ignorance about issuing any such certificates.

The interrogation of the applicants in question who got issued the Passports under Tatkal Scheme led the identity of the agents who were involved in the whole scam. Since an enquiry was conducted by the RPO in this matter before it registered a case, the accused went underground and changed their mobile numbers as well. The police however put in sustained efforts and the detail provided by the applicants about these agents was analyzed and secret sources and electronic surveillance was deployed.

"First of all Rakesh Kumar Dubey was apprehended from Vasant Vihar, New Delhi and on sustained interrogation he not only admitted his involvement but he also disclosed names of some other persons involved in this racked. A complete computer set up was found installed in his office at Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi which was used for submitting on line applications," said Singh.

Jitender Singh who is also actively involved in the racket and partner of Rakesh Kumar Dubey's office in the Bhikaji Cama Place was also arrested from Moti Bagh area. Rachit, another active member of this racket was also nabbed from outside the passport office, Bhikaji Cama Place.

"During sustained interrogation of these three persons, it came into notice that one person from Meerut, UP is also involved who provides them forged Voter I-card, Aadhar Card, School certificates etc. as per their requirement," he added.

Accordingly, a trap was laid and Mujeebur-Rehman was apprehended near village Mohmmadpur while he came there to deliver some forged documents to Rakesh Kumar Dubey. Similarly another person namely Guddu who provides them Birth certificates as per the requirement has also been arrested.

Five accused persons have been arrested in this case so far and further investigations are on, police said.