Ghaziabad Police Uncover Sophisticated Passport Forgery Operation
In a significant breakthrough, Ghaziabad police have dismantled a well-organized racket that allegedly facilitated the acquisition of original passports through fraudulent means. The elaborate scheme involved the use of counterfeit documents, middlemen, a postal employee, and potentially compromised police verification processes.
Five Arrested in Coordinated Raids Across Delhi and Ghaziabad
Law enforcement authorities apprehended five individuals connected to the illicit operation during coordinated raids conducted on Sunday. The arrests took place at various locations spanning Delhi and Bhojpur in Ghaziabad.
The arrested individuals include:
- Vivek Gandhi (35), a resident of Qutub Vihar in Delhi
- Prakash Subba (61), from Chattarpur, Delhi
- Arun Kumar (32), hailing from Meerut
- Satwant Kaur (61) and her son Amandeep Singh (19), residents of Tilak Nagar in West Delhi
According to police investigations, Gandhi and Subba operated as agents outside the Delhi passport office, while Arun Kumar served as a postman at the Modinagar post office. Additionally, Constable Deepak Kumar has been suspended from duty amid allegations of accepting bribes to circumvent the mandatory police verification process.
How the Fraud Was Uncovered
The elaborate deception came to light on December 12 when the Delhi passport office identified a cluster of suspicious applications. Investigators discovered that 24 separate passports were linked to a single mobile number and shared identical residential addresses.
"All these 24 passports had the same address and phone number. When a police team reached there, they found only two persons living in the house. They were let go because they produced valid documents. This meant that the address on the remaining 22 passports was fake," explained ACP (Modinagar) Amit Saxena.
This discovery prompted authorities to trace the delivery trail of the suspicious passports. Police determined that all documents had been dispatched from Delhi to the same post office in Bhojpur, leading them to question the local postman about delivery destinations.
The Modus Operandi Revealed
Investigations revealed that approximately five months prior, agents Vivek Gandhi and Prakash Subba approached postman Arun Kumar at the Bhojpur post office. They informed him that several passports would soon arrive at his facility but provided strict instructions not to deliver them to the addresses listed on the documents.
"The agents allegedly offered Arun Rs 2,000 per passport to divert the deliveries. Out of greed, Arun started doing this work," stated ACP Saxena.
The fraudulent operation followed a systematic approach:
- Gandhi and Subba charged clients Rs 25,000 per passport and submitted online applications on their behalf
- They forged critical documents including Aadhaar cards, driving licenses, and birth certificates to support applications
- Clients would visit the Delhi passport office on verification day with expertly crafted forged documents that were difficult to distinguish from genuine ones
- Once passports were issued, they were all sent to the Bhojpur post office due to identical addresses
- Postman Arun Kumar would then divert the passports instead of delivering them to the listed addresses
Among the beneficiaries were Satwant Kaur and her son Amandeep Singh, who reportedly sought passports to travel to Canada.
Broader Implications and Ongoing Investigation
The case has raised serious questions about the integrity of police verification procedures for passport issuance. Authorities are investigating how 22 passports linked to a single fraudulent address managed to bypass police scrutiny.
"We are trying to find out how 22 passports linked to a single address bypassed police scrutiny. A constable from Bhojpur has been suspended, but there could be more cops involved in the racket," revealed another police officer involved in the investigation.
Police have initiated multiple follow-up actions:
- Written to government authorities seeking cancellation of fraudulently obtained passports
- Contacted airport authorities to determine if any fraudulent passports have been used for international travel
- Verifying identities and backgrounds of all individuals who obtained passports through the racket
An FIR has been registered at Bhojpur police station against the two agents, the postman, 22 alleged beneficiaries, and unknown persons under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.
The charges include criminal conspiracy, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, forgery for the purpose of cheating, forgery of valuable security, and using forged documents as genuine.
