DC | 08.03.2013 I Bengaluru: Raising the spectre of a massive infiltration of terrorists into the IT capital and the country, 64 passports have been issued by Bengaluru's Regional Passport Office to people who have been checked and verified on all relevant criteria. Except, Deccan Chronicle has now learnt, the passport holders of these documents have not gone through the exacting verification process that is required by law, and that their names, fingerprints and eye scans were conducted by a clever scamster, who, operating his own biometric system, sold the genuine passports for a paltry 5 lakh.
Deccan Chronicle has also been told by its sources that the man conducting the biometric testing and issuing passports which are authentic in every way is an employee of the Regional Passport Office in the city.
Security officials have been left red-faced at the scale of the scam, which implicates three or more people in the Regional Passport Office in the Karnataka capital, and puts a huge question mark over the manner in which security parameters have been so spectacularly breached.
As Deccan Chronicle investigates the passport scam which has rattled the Ministry of External Affairs and city police, a Chikkballapur native, Khaleelullah Khan aka ‘Maulvi’ has emerged as the kingpin along with two associates, Chand and Mujahid. All three have been arrested by the City Crime Branch and are being questioned by the Intelligence Bureau.
Anchor in constant touch with kingpin
What started out as a sting operation by the private television channel to expose some people in Chikkaballapur who were allegedly issuing fake passports turned out to be a much bigger racket involving issuing original passports for a princely sum.
At the end of the operation, the entire team was caught in a cobweb, with their own colleague getting linked with the racketeers and suggesting that the TV anchor’s junior colleagues be murdered as a last measure to stop the sting operation from being aired.
Now, the city police, who are investigating the case, are in the process of issuing notice to the television anchor, who is a senior news producer of the news channel, to appear before the investigation officer for questioning.
The call records of the main accused suggested that he was constantly in touch with the TV anchor ‘negotiating’ to stop telecast of the sting operation.
Sources said the sting operation started six months ago when the channel got information about fake passports. The channel put two young reporters on the job and it took almost a month to establish contact with the prime accused in Chikkaballapur, who is a maulvi.
One of the reporters sought a passport saying that he had two police cases pending against him. All he had to do was shell out around `1.5 lakh after handing over a passport size photograph and his address details. The biometric thumb impressions were recorded in the house at Chikkaballapur.
At this point, the reporters realised that the details would be sent to the Regional Passport Office in Bengaluru and they will be receiving original passports from the office, without even submitting records and police verification. The two also came to know that at least three people in the Passport Office were involved in the racket.
The entire sting operation was known to only three senior people in the office. After the two reporters got the passport, the TV anchor learnt about the sting. First, he tried to convince his colleagues that it would affect the Passport Officer, who was known to him quite well. When they said that the officer, Dr K.J. Srinivasa, had no role in the racket, he backed down, but kept track of the developments.
The issue took a turn when the channel decided to go ahead and air the sting operation. JCP (Crime) Mr Pronab Mohanthy, who watched the video, immediately got the racketeers arrested.
While going through the kingpin’s call details, police came across a number which figured frequently in the maulvi’s call list. The kingpin told police that he had not met the caller and that the caller had introduced himself as ‘Mr Rakesh’ who had promised to stop telecast of the story. After realising that the channel would go ahead with the telecast, ‘Mr Rakesh’ suggested murder of the two reporters so that others do not get the footage of the sting operation.
The mobile phone number was traced to a fake address in Gulbarga and later to the TV anchor.
Maulvi arrested on February 27
Maulvi arrested on February 27
Sources privy to the developments revealed to Deccan Chronicle that a maulvi, from Chikkaballapur is the mastermind behind passport scam.
The maulvi was arrested on February 27 from his Chikkaballapur house after tracking the call records of journalists of a leading Kannada news channel, who had a filed a complaint on receiving threatening calls after they had carried out a sting operation to expose the passport scam.
The police were baffled after they stumbled on a laptop and a biometric reading device in the house until the information obtained from the laptop revealed that the maulvi had so far issued 64 ‘genuine passports’ and that the last one was that of the journalist who had carried out the sting operation.
“The maulvi, operating from his house, had three persons operating at the Passport Seva Kendra on Marathahalli Road working for him. He had biometric reading devices at his house and would provide preliminary data like names, photographs, fingerprint details to them. The three would then process the information by feeding them into the system. Subsequently, the passport would be processed without any verification and delivered to their clients,’’ sources said.
However, it is not yet clear whether the three work for TCS, MEA or are mere touts as police refused to divulge further details.
Sources said that police have information on all the 63 persons who have obtained passports through maulvi. “We are looking at the details of 63 persons. Very soon we will share further information,’’ sources said.
He tried to stall broadcast
It all started a few months ago, when the TV anchor got Regional Passport Officer Dr K.J. Srinivasa to his channel’s office and introduced him as his cousin. When he came to know about the sting operation, the TV anchor contacted the channel head and pleaded with him to stop the telecast saying that his cousin would get into trouble.
However, he was assured that Mr Srinivasa was in no way involved in the racket and that some junior officials were involved. But the TV anchor wanted the operation to be put off till Dr Srinivasa went to the US on his next assignment.
Meanwhile, he called up the kingpin, Maulvi, under the name of ‘Mr Rakesh’ offering to stall the telecast in return for payment.
After Maulvi’s arrest last week, police tracked his calls. Police realised that the SIM card was purchased on a fake address in Gulbarga. When they tried to track the phone, it pointed to the TV channel’s office. The needle of suspicion pointed towards the TV anchor, who had earlier tried to stall telecast of the story. The anchor’s number and that of ‘Mr Rakesh’ were found to be at the same place.
MEA wants thorough probe into the scam
The passport scam in Karnataka has turned out to be a major security threat for the country with the Ministry of External Affairs seeking a detailed investigation into the case by the City police.
The Central Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested the three accused — Khaleelullah Khan alias Maulvi, Chand and Mujahid and others, who were touts at the Passport Seva Kendra at Devarabisanahalli, Marathahalli Outer Ring Road in HAL police station limits and were allegedly running the racket of facilitating genuine passports on fake documents with alleged official collusion. “To issue a genuine passport on fake documents is much more dangerous than issuing fake passports. We need to dig deep into the case,” said an official source.
The CCB, on March 2, had lodged a criminal complaint at the HAL police station based on which they registered an FIR against Maulvi, Chand and Mujahid under Sections 120 b (criminal conspiracy), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) of the IPC and Section 12 b (knowingly furnishing any false information or suppressing any material information) of the Indian Passport Act.
The three had allegedly forged documents of some educational institutions for getting passports. The HAL police, on March 3, had transferred the case to the CCB.
MOHAMMED CHAND SHAIKH
No comments:
Post a Comment