A 51-year-old man from Gujarat’s Mehsana district has been arrested at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport after being deported from the United States for allegedly travelling on a fake Indian passport.
According to immigration officials, the man was allowed to enter India using an emergency certificate issued by the Indian Embassy in Washington. However, authorities alleged that he had travelled using a fraudulently obtained Indian passport that belonged to another person.
Passport Allegedly Belonged to Another Person
Officials said the man had left India in March 2011 on his original passport and had not returned since then. He arrived in Delhi after being deported by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
During immigration checks, officials noticed irregularities in the passport, including discrepancies in the biodata page, passport number font and ghost image. Verification revealed that the passport number had actually been issued to another Indian citizen and had already been reported lost.
Forensic Examination Found Security Feature Mismatches
Investigators found that the passport had been issued in Ahmedabad in 2018, even though official records showed the man had not returned to India after leaving in 2011.
A forensic examination also detected discrepancies in several security features, including the ultraviolet security thread and guilloche patterns, leading officials to conclude that the passport was counterfeit.
FIR Registered
Based on the findings, Delhi Police registered an FIR against the accused under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for alleged cheating, forgery and use of forged documents, along with Section 12 of the Passport Act.