20 held for travelling in Mumbai local trains with fake IDs

40-year-old man was arrested by the Mumbai Central Government Railway Police (GRP) on Saturday for allegedly travelling with a fake identity (ID) card.

40-year-old man was arrested by the Mumbai Central Government Railway Police (GRP) on Saturday for allegedly travelling with a fake identity (ID) card.

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According to GRP officers, this is the fifth such arrest in October where an employee of a private office has been caught travelling with a fake ID card. From June to October 10, GRP has arrested more than 20 people for travelling with fake IDs.

In this recent case, the accused Deepak Pandhrinath Khedekar, a resident of Jogeshwari, was caught at Mumbai Central railway station.

Shailendra Dhivar, senior inspector of Mumbai Central GRP said that Khedekar, an employee of a private security agency, was caught by the ticket checker at Churchgate railway station. Dhivar said that Khedekar was arrested and booked under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Khedekar.

At present, only emergency and essential service employees along with those working at banks and some other Union government bodies like MbPT and dabbawalas are allowed to travel in local trains during the period of the lockdown.

When Khedekar was asked for his ID card, he showed one with the seal of the station master’s office and QR code along with a fake signature.

Police are now investigating from where Khedekar obtained the fake ID card. “We are also investigating to find out whether there is a bigger nexus or gang involved in making fake ID cards,” said Dhivar.

In a drive to curb unauthorised commuters on local trains, the commercial department of Western Railway (WR) nabbed a man last Wednesday. Andheri government railway police (GRP) too, arrested a woman for using a fake identity card.