Assam woman arrested for using forged embassy car plates in Delhi

She had been on police radar after they were tipped off that a woman had been frequenting embassies in a car with forged plates from the embassy of Gabon.

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

The woman was arrested on January 15 from outside a friend’s house in Vasant Vihar based on a tip. (Representational/Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

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. 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 were tipped off that a woman had been frequenting embassies in a car 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.

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 crucial for national security due to the forthcoming Republic Day celebrations. Her activities are being verified,” said Yadav.

Her mobile phone has been seized and is being analysed, and her movements and contacts are under verification. Her husband is an Assam government official, police said. Police said that the accused claimed to be a representative of a foreign embassy but failed to produce any documents.

She also told investigators that she had purchased the Innova from a foreign embassy in November 2024 during an auction, 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 facilitating admissions to African nationals in 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. 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. She was remanded to six days of police custody and has now been sent to judicial custody.