Choksi's passport issued without police verification: Mumbai Police
Mumbai, Aug 4 : Mumbai Police on Saturday said the Regional Passport Office (RPO) here had issued a passport to the absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi, one of the prime accused in the PNB fraud, after granting him a no ‘Police Verificiation Required (PVR) status.
Accordingly, no PVR was generated for the passport, issued under the ‘Tatkal' category on September 10, 2015, valid for 10 years, said an official statement.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said on Friday that a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) was issued on the basis of a clear PVR available on his (Choksi's) passport.
However, according to the Mumbai Police today, it was only after nearly one-and-a-half years - on February 23, 2017 - that Choksi had applied for getting a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) to the RPO.
On February 24, 2017, the Malabar Hill Police downloaded the Personal Particular Form for police verification, prior to issuing the PCC.
On March 10, 2017, it submitted the PCC report of "no criminal antecedents against Choksi." This was done after duly checking the Criminal Antecedents and Information System (CAIS) of Mumbai Police for checking the criminal records of any passport applicant within its jurisdiction.
"The system will reflect only the applicant's name if he has been arrested in any offence," said the statement. Four days later, on March 14, 2017, the Passport Branch of SBI-II, CID, had forwarded its PCC report to the RPO.
Yesterday, MEA's spokesperson Kumar had said that all passport issuing authorities can issue a PCC if there is a clear PVR in the system, and in case there is no PVR, then a fresh PVR is obtained prior to issuance of a PCC.
"As the PVR of Mehul Choksi was clear in the system at the time of issuance of PCC, the process followed by the Passport Office, Mumbai was as per extant instructions," he stated, adding that the PCC was issued to Choksi in March 2017 for his travel to Antigua and Barbuda.
Choksi flew out of India from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here on January 04, 2018.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed an FIR against him January 31, and a fortnight later, in mid-February, the scam erupted after PNB admitted that it had been defrauded.
On February 23, 2018, the RPO Mumbai had revoked Choksi's passport.
In the wake of controversies surrounding Choksi's citizenship of Antigua, the Mumbai Police has now initiated an investigation into the process of issuing PVR, and examining its internal processes involved in the criminal antecedents verification process to improvise the existing systems.
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Mangaluru: Two arrested for collecting bank accounts for cyber fraud
Mangaluru: Mangaluru City police have arrested two persons for allegedly collecting bank accounts from the public and using them for cyber fraud.
The accused have been identified as Mohammed Aneesh (30) from Kasaba Bengre, Kuloor Post, and Saleeth Ahmed M (32) from Surathkal.
According to the Cyber Command Unit, a complainant Mohammed Sinan approached Mangaluru City Cyber Crime police station on Wednesday and alleged that the accused had taken his bank account under the pretext of using it for a trading business. However, the account was later used for cyber fraud.
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Based on this complaint, a case was registered under section 66(C) and 66(D) of the IT Act and under section 308 (5), 318(4), 319 (2), 3 (5) of BNS. During the investigation, technical evidence was collected and analysed.
According to police, the accused revealed that they purchased USDT from Indians at a lower price, and sold it at a higher price to scammers in China. The Chinese scammers allegedly transferred money obtained through cyber fraud committed against Indians into the bank accounts provided by the accused.
To facilitate these transactions, the accused collected bank accounts from general public in Mangaluru. The police seized four mobile phones, 18 debit cards, 17 bank passbooks, six cheque books, USDT 1,479.31 and a car from the accused.
It was also found that the accused had full knowledge of the cyber fraud. Whenever complaints were registered against the bank accounts used for cyber fraud, and the accounts were frozen, they allegedly collected new bank accounts and continued the fraudulent activities.
Further interrogation revealed that the accused had collected more than 70 bank account details from people in Mangaluru city and used them for cyber fraud. Out of these, 37 bank accounts were already reported on NCRP portal, with more than 88 complaints registered across the country.
Further investigation is underway.
