Woman arrested for using forged embassy car plates

She told police that she had forged the number plates to resemble those of an embassy to avoid police checks and gain easy access to diplomatic areas and various embassies in New Delhi.

A 45-year-old woman from Assam has been arrested for allegedly using forged embassy number plates on a car she bought from an embassy auction to access diplomatic areas in Delhi, police said on Friday, adding she was being considered a threat to national security with this coming days ahead of Republic Day.

Woman arrested for using forged embassy car plates

According to the police, the woman was arrested on January 15 from outside a friend’s house in Vasant Vihar based on a tip. “The car [she was driving] bore a fake foreign embassy registration number. During the search, we also recovered one more forged diplomatic number plate,” said deputy commissioner of police (crime branch) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav.

She had been on police radar after they received information that a woman had been frequenting embassies of various countries in Delhi in a vehicle with forged plates from the embassy of Gabon.

During interrogation, she told police that she had forged the number plates to resemble those of an embassy to avoid police checks and gain easy access to diplomatic areas and various embassies in New Delhi.

She claimed she did so because she was a “liasoner” and facilitated meetings between students interested in studying abroad and other parties with embassy officials, said an investigator on condition of anonymity.

“Her arrest is very crucial for national security due to the forthcoming Republic Day celebrations. Her activities are being verified in view of the same,” said Yadav.

Her mobile phone has been seized and is being analysed, and her movements and contacts are under verification to rule out any anti-national links. Her husband is an Assam government official, police said.

Police said that the accused initially claimed to be a representative of a foreign embassy but failed to produce any vehicle ownership or diplomatic documents.

She also told investigators that she had purchased the Innova from a foreign embassy in November 2024 during an auction of old cars, but did not register it in her name. After the embassy filed a complaint, she removed the original plates with a registration number used by officials of the Gabon embassy.

She has also claimed that she has been the all-India secretary of a political party for the past four years, a consultant with a foreign embassy in 2023-24, a sports guide at a university in Meghalaya. She said she is currently involved in consulting foreign students, particularly African nationals, for admissions to the Meghalaya university. Police have yet to verify these claims.

Police said the woman is a permanent resident of Assam, based in Guwahati, and she has three sons aged 21, 13 and five. She does not have a permanent address in Delhi and has been staying with her friend for the past two or three days. “She said that she would only visit Delhi for work and stayed either with some friends or at Assam Bhawan,” the officer said.

A case has been registered under sections 318 (cheating), 319 (cheating by impersonation), 337 (forgery), 336 (forgery), 340 (using forged documents) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). She was remanded to six days of police custody for interrogation and has now been sent to judicial custody.