Lovelorn 21-yr-old held with fake passport in Pune

A 21-year-old girl from Gujarat, who allegedly went to the United States (US) on a fake passport provided by her agent in June, was arrested by the Airport police after she was deported by US authorities in New York. The visa documents had been processed in Pune.

Dara Bhecharbai Patel, 21, from Diwanpura, Gujarat, was arrested on Friday. On Saturday, Dara was produced before the court of judicial magistrate (first class) and has been remanded in magisterial custody and granted bail on furnishing a surety of Rs6,000.

Four other people were also named in the case. These include Mina Patel, whose passport was doctored so that Dara could travel on it, Mina’s father Chandanbhai Patel, who accompanied Dara to New York, Dara’s brother Hasmukhbhai Patel and agent Raju from Mumbai.

Senior inspector Prakash Shah said, “Dara’s fiancée is working in New York, and she wanted to meet him. However, she was not getting a visa, due to some technical issues. Dara’s brother contacted Raju, who asked Dara and her brother to come to Mumbai and made a visa for her in the name of Mina, who is unrelated to the family yet looks similar to Dara. Once the documents were processed, Raju replaced the photo on Mina’s passport with that of Dara. The fact that Dara was using a fake passport was revealed when she underwent a biometric test in New York.”