258 Punjab-bound passports found dumped in Sirsa village
Preliminary investigations reveal that the passports belong to Punjab residents. These were in possession of a Ludhiana-based private immigration firm where passports holders had submitted these to apply for visa.
Haryana Police have taken into possession 258 passports and some other documents which were found dumped along a road in Chakerian village under Kalanwali police station in Sirsa district in Haryana on Saturday.
Bathinda police suspect that the passports may be those which were to be delivered at the Bathinda main post office and were lost in transit. Kalanwali town is on the Haryana-Punjab border.
Kalanwali station house officer Om Prakash said preliminary investigations reveal that passports belong to persons hailing from different places in Punjab. These were in possession of a Ludhiana-based private immigration firm where passports holders had submitted these to apply for visa.
“The immigration firm’s office was closed recently and firm had also lodged a complaint with the Ludhiana police about the passports having gone missing. We are investigating how these passports reached here,” said the SHO, adding that some persons, whose passports were found, were contacted after which they reached the Kalanwali police station.
Bathinda senior superintendent of police (SSP) Navin Singla said a team of district police will be sent to Kalanwali to check if these were the same passports which were lost in transit.
As many as 254 passports were lost in transit after been dispatched through a speed post by Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh, to head post office in Bathinda in January. The matter had come to light on January 29 after applicants didn’t get their passports despite having received messages on their mobile phones that passports were dispatched by the RPO on January 15. As the post office officials lodged an online complaint with the district police, a case was registered against unidentified persons.
“We had given our passports to a Ludhiana-based immigration consultant in September last year. The consultant later told us that someone had stolen the passports. We had lodged a case with the Ludhiana police about our passports having gone missing. Today, we came to know through the Sirsa police that these had been found dumped here after which we reached Kalanwali. It is a mystery how these passports landed here,” said a youth who had come from Ludhiana.
(With PTI inputs)