From B’desh to the Gulf via Kolkata, Mumbai: Modus operandi of fake passport ring

An investigation by the Borivali police has uncovered a fake passport racket involving Bangladeshi nationals. The gang used forged birth certificates and school documents to apply for Indian passports, which were then used by the Bangladeshis to secure jobs in the Middle East. The gang has sent around 70 individuals to Gulf countries on fake Indian passports in the past two years. The alleged mastermind of the gang, Rahul Singh, has fled to Bangladesh.

MUMBAI: Investigation by the Borivali police into a fake passport racket has revealed that the gang used to prepare fake birth certificates and school documents for Bangladeshi nationals in Kolkata and use these forged documents to apply for Indian passports in Mumbai and Pune. The Bangladeshi nationals then used the Indian passports to secure jobs in the Middle East.

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On November 11, pursuant to revelations made by an accused arrested in Mumbai on October 20, a Borivali police team raided a rented house in Kolkata.

“We raided the Kolkata address given to us by gang members on Saturday and obtained several fake birth certificates, including the forged certificate of an arrested accused,” said Ninad Sawant, senior police inspector of Borivali police station.

Though the police were unable to find or arrest the alleged mastermind of the gang Rahul Singh alias Shahrukh Khan, or his accomplice Gangaprasad Karpe, the raid yielded crucial information about the gang’s modus operandi.

It was revealed that Rahul Singh, a Bangladeshi national who resides in Nalasopara, brought Bangladeshis desirous of working abroad to India on four-wheelers, through cattle feeding patches along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Once the trafficked persons reached Kolkata, they were kept in a rented apartment, where fake birth certificates and school leaving certificates were prepared and handed over to them. They were then transported to Mumbai or Pune, where they were again housed in a rented apartment. Gang members who managed operations in Mumbai and Pune subsequently applied for their passport and visa to work in Gulf countries using forged rent agreements and birth certificates.

The gang has sent around 70 Bangladeshi nationals to Gulf countries on fake Indian passports in the past two years, said police officials.

“Singh and his gang charged ₹7 lakh per person for the entire exercise, including transport, accommodation, and provision of passports and visas,” said Ajay Bansal, deputy commissioner of police, zone 11.

The first major breakthrough in the case came on October 20, when Borivali police arrested 17 Bangladeshi nationals on charges of residing in India without valid documents and attempting to acquire identity documents using forged papers. Based on their interrogation, police arrested three Bangladeshi nationals – Suman Momin Sardar, Omar Farooque Molla, and Salman Ayyub Khan – who managed operations of the gnang in Mumbai.

Subsequently, on October 30, Borivali police raided a rented apartment in Pune and arrested four persons who managed the gang’s operations in the city. Among them, three persons – Sujon Sopikar Shaikh, Mithu Shaikh and Mubin Javed Mandal – were Bangladeshi nationals, while the fourth person, Sainath Yelwad, was a local resident.

Further probe revealed that Yelwad worked at an Aadhaar centre in Pune, which was owned by Gangaprasad Karpe. Mandal, a doctor by profession, and Yelwad were in-charge of preparing fake Aadhaar and PAN documents by altering birth certificates through an online PDF editing service. Sujon Shaikh and Mithu Shaikh, on the other hand, prepared fake rent agreements and electricity bills by using photos and IDs of deceased people, which could be used to apply for Indian passports.

“Singh has fled to Bangladesh. But after the arrest of 20 people, including the agents in his gang, infiltration bids on the Indian border have come down by at least 10%,” claimed Bansal.