3 foreigners obtain Indian passports by fraud; arrested
Chennai: Three foreign nationals who had obtained Indian passports using forged documents, were arrested at Chennai International Airport, when they attempted to travel abroad.
The suspects, hailing from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal, were intercepted by immigration officials and later handed over to Chennai police for further investigation.
Officials said the arrests were made following a complaint filed by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) with the Fake Passport Investigation Unit of the CCB. The arrested individuals were identified as Mohammed Kasim Pathan, 41, of Bangladesh, Sangupillai Sarojini Devi, 58, of Sri Lanka, and Dhanraj Pokhriyal, 40, of Nepal.
Immigration authorities grew suspicious after verifying the travel documents of the trio and alerted the FRRO.
A subsequent investigation revealed that the accused had secured documents such as Aadhaar, voter ID, and PAN cards by concealing their nationality and personal details. Then they used these fake documents to obtain Indian passports and attempted to use them to travel overseas.The probe also uncovered the involvement of four Indian nationals — Bina Das, 54, of Odisha, Ramamurthy, 44, of Nagapattinam, Chennamma, 45, of Andhra Pradesh, and Parakatullah, 59, of Sivaganga — who aided the suspects in acquiring the fake documents. The arrested foreign nationals were remanded to judicial custody after being produced before the Alandur judicial magistrate court. Police have launched a hunt for the agents involved in the document forgery network. TNN
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