Bangladesh national arrested for using fake Indian passport

A 30-year-old Bangladeshi man was arrested in Mumbai for attempting to board a flight to Hong Kong with a fake Indian passport. He confessed to obtaining the passport and visa for ₹6 lakh. Police are investigating how he entered India and obtained the fake passport.

Mumbai: A 30-year-old Bangladesh national was arrested recently for allegedly trying to board a flight to Hong Kong using a fake Indian passport. According to the police, the accused – identified as Abdul Bashar – confessed to acquiring the passport and a visa for Hong Kong from the Mumbai regional passport office (RPO) at a cost of ₹6 lakh.

HT Image

“Bashar had got the fake passport within a month of his arrival in Pune after entering Kolkata through the border illegally,” an officer from Sahar police station said. “We are now investigating to find out the channel through which he had entered India and managed to get the fake passport within a short period of time.”

“We learnt that Bashar had crossed the border and entered Kolkata. He then travelled to Pune where he got a job as a labourer and met an agent identified as Firoz who assured of getting him an Indian Passport,” he said, adding that the agent had made fake documents of Bashar, including Aadhar Card, PAN card, and Driving Licence.

The officer said that on Friday, while Bashar was trying to fly to Hong Kong from Mumbai, he was checked at the immigration counter on suspicion. Their doubt was confirmed when Bashar failed to give a valid answer on the purpose of his visit to Hong Kong and the job profile that he was looking for, he added.

Bashar has been booked under sections 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document), of the Indian Penal Code and under the Indian Passport Act and Foreigners Act. “We are now looking for Firoz and trying to find out whether there was anyone involved from the passport office and whether Firoz had made fake passports of other people,” the officer said.