Two Mangaluru residents among nine arrested in fake passport racket in Bengaluru
Five of nine arrested accused are Sri Lankan citizens
Bengaluru: City police on Wednesday arrested nine people on charges of forging Indian passports using fake credentials. Those among the arrested include five Sri Lankan citizens and two people from Bengaluru. The other two accused reportedly hail from Mangaluru.
The accused have been identified as Sadiq Pasha, 33, and his associates Anees Sait, Nawal, and Hydar.
The five Sri Lankan citizens arrested during the operation are said to have procured fake Indian passports from Pasha and his gang.
City Police Commissioner C.H. Pratap Reddy said that the accused have similar cases against them in six police stations in and around the city and were arrested earlier. However, after coming out on bail, the accused continued to create fake credentials for their clients to apply and get passports. The fake credentials include voter ID, Aadhaar, and school leaving certificates in the name of their clients to be used as documents to be submitted to claim domicile status for a passport.
Using the modus operandi, the accused helped 50 people get a passport. The beneficiaries include foreign nationals and habitual offenders. Citing an example, a senior police officer said that one of the beneficiaries is a habitual thief having as many as 36 house break-in cases while his brother has 15 criminal cases pending against him.
The scam was unearthed on October 19 when alert passport verification duty staff based on a complaint cross-checked their credentials and reported the matter. Following this, a special team was formed to arrest the gang.
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Integrity of electoral process severely compromised, Cong to soon launch movement: CWC
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress Working Committee met here on Friday and adopted a resolution alleging the integrity of the entire electoral process was being severely compromised against which the party would soon launch a movement.
In the resolution of the top body of the Congress, the party said free and fair elections is a Constitutional mandate that was being called into "serious question by the partisan functioning of the Election Commission".
The CWC, which met amid the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament, said the session has been a washout so far because of the Narendra Modi government's "stubborn refusal" to have an immediate discussion on three pressing national issues -- "the recent revelations regarding corruption by a business group, and the violence in Manipur and Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal".
Asked why the Congress Working Committee (CWC) resolution does not name the business group, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "The answer is the Adani group".
"The CWC believes the integrity of the entire electoral process is being severely compromised. Free and fair elections is a Constitutional mandate that is being called into serious question by the partisan functioning of the Election Commission.
"Increasing sections of society are becoming frustrated and deeply apprehensive. The Congress will take these up these public concerns as a national movement," the resolution stated.
Addressing a joint press conference along with Ramesh and Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, party general secretary, organisation, K C Venugopal said the party discussed the political situation in the country for four-and-half hours and adopted the resolution.
He said the CWC has decided to constitute internal committees to look into electoral performance and organisational matters.
About the Assembly polls results in Maharashtra, Venugopal said the electoral outcome in the state was "beyond normal understanding and it appears to be a clear case of targeted manipulation".
