Bengaluru: News website claims tracking down fugitive Morgenall CEO Irfan Pasha, his wife in Qatar
Bengaluru: Eight months after a Bengaluru based couple and founders of Morgenall Investment Company, Irfan Pasha and his wife Fathima Maqdooma fled the country allegedly defrauding thousands of investors, Bengaluru based news website has made claims of tracking the fugitive couple in Qatar where they reportedly run a job recruitment company named Credentia HR.
The couple who defrauded investors (mainly Muslims) off thousands of crore rupees in the name of ‘Halal Investment’ wounded their business in late September 2018 and fled the country, leaving the investigating agencies and investors in a fix as they failed to track them.
Bengaluru based journalist Shaik Zakeer Hussain who runs a news website 'thecognate.com' reported that working on an information provided by their source about Irfan and his wife staying in Qatar they investigated the lead and has concluded it to be true.
“Ten days ago, The Cognate received a message from one of the employees of Credentia HR, informing us that both Irfan and Fathima are in Qatar. The employee told us that the duo runs a company there and are recruiting people on visit visas, without paying them salaries. Since it’s illegal to work in Qatar on a visit visa, the employees are unable to lodge a complaint against the company” a report published on thecognate.com on June 24 added.
The report also claims that their investigation led them to the office of Credentia HR and that they were able to verify the details of the company and its ownership to satisfactorily conclude that the duo was in Qatar, running Credentia HR.
“At our request, the employee sent us a copy of the offer letter from Credentia HR, which had Irfan Pasha’s signature and the company’s commercial registration number or C.R. No. on it.
While we were able to match Irfan’s signature with the signature on his passport copy, but we wanted more information to ascertain Irfan’s ownership of the firm. However, the employee was unable to provide any more details” the report adds.
Speaking to Vartha Bharati, Shaikh Zakir Hussain said “We sent our representatives to the office of Credentia HR on Najma Airport Road in Doha but the couple were not at office at that time. Our representatives couldn’t take pictures of the office too. Later we got access to the official trade license’s copy of Credentia HR where the name of the duo was mentioned as the owners along with another ‘Yes mart trading and service’, we couldn’t verify the identity details of ‘Yes mart trading and services’”.
According to the copy of trade license provided in the report, Irfan holds 25% shares of Credentia HR, while his wife Fathima hold 24% of company’s shares.
The document also shows the passport numbers of the duo. The passport number of Fathima is G8573215 and the passport number of Irfan Pasha is L7213058.
“We tried to match these passport numbers with the copy of Irfan Pasha’s passport number, which was circulated widely by Morgenall’s investors on social media, soon after he fled, but to our surprise, it did not match up. However, a little more research revealed us that Irfan holds another passport, whose number matches with the one on his company certificate. This reveals that Irfan Pasha has two passports, one which he used to fly out of India, and was issued in Bengaluru in 2017, and another one, which he used to register his company in Qatar and was issued in Dubai in 2014” the report further added.
As soon as the report was published on The Cognate website, investors and activists have called on the investigating agencies to should immediately take measures to get arrest the couple, who the report claims to be living a ‘luxurious life’.
In November last year, we even met the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Delhi and sought the centre’s help in finding these fraudsters, but nothing came out of it. Now that their location has been confirmed, the government and the investigating agencies have no choice, but to get these people to India, and get us justice. These people are living openly and with absolute impunity, while we are suffering everyday” the report quoted Syed Saif, an investor turned activist.
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Iran Shocks World, Hits F-35
America's most advanced fighter jet, the F-35, was never hit in combat — not once, in its entire history. Countries spend over ₹900 crore to buy just one of these aircraft. The whole world believed this plane was untouchable. Then, on March 19, something happened over Iranian skies that shocked military experts across the globe.
Iran hit it. And nobody saw it coming.
America Was Too Confident — That Was the Problem
Before understanding how this happened, you need to understand what America believed going into this. The US had been bombing Iran since February 28. After roughly 20 days of heavy strikes, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Iran's air defences were completely destroyed — finished, flattened, gone.
US President Donald Trump even said proudly, "We can fly wherever we want, and no one is even firing at us."
Based on this confidence, America flew its prized F-35 deep into the heart of central Iran. That alone tells you how sure they were. You don't send your most expensive jet into enemy territory unless you believe there is zero danger.
But Iran, a country under heavy international sanctions, still had something left. And it used that something extremely well.
So How Did Iran Actually Hit a Stealth Jet?
Here is where it gets interesting for regular people to understand.
We have all heard the word "stealth" — it sounds like the plane is completely invisible. But India Today explained that stealth only means it is hard to detect by radar. Hard — not impossible. It does not mean the aircraft is totally invisible.
Think of it this way. Even if you cannot see someone in a dark room, you can still feel their body heat if they stand close enough. That is almost exactly what happened here.
The F-35's engines produce enormous heat. Iran's weapon likely used an infrared sensor — basically a heat-seeking system — to detect that heat, lock onto it, and follow the jet. No radar needed. The F-35's biggest advantage, its radar-invisibility, simply did not matter.
The weapon Iran likely used was the 358 missile — also called SA-67 — which is a loitering munition. Think of it as a slow, intelligent drone that flies around patiently waiting, scanning the sky for heat signals from aircraft engines. Once it finds one, it chases it down. Iran has used this exact weapon before against American MQ-9 Reaper drones — and since this war started, America has already lost more than 12 of those drones.
This Has Happened Before — In 1999
This is not the first time America's "invisible" aircraft was brought down by a smarter enemy.
In 1999, during NATO's bombing campaign over Serbia, the US flew its F-117 Nighthawk — which was then considered the world's most advanced stealth aircraft. Serbian forces shot it down using an old Soviet missile system from the 1960s. Not with new technology — with clever thinking. They briefly switched on their radar, caught the jet at the right moment when its stealth was less effective, and fired.
The lesson both then and now is the same — no aircraft is completely invincible. Smart tactics can beat expensive technology.
Why This Changes Everything in the Iran War
Here is the bigger picture that really matters.
America and Israel had told the world that Iran's air defences were basically dead. Based on that, they sent massive B-1 and B-2 bombers — aircraft that are normally used only when a country is 100% sure it controls the enemy's sky. That is a huge military risk to take.
But if an F-35 — the most advanced aircraft in the sky — can still be hit, then Iran's defences are clearly not dead. Some pieces are still very much alive and working.
This means the US and Israel may now be forced to completely rethink their war plan. Their jets may need to fly higher, use longer-range weapons, and spend far more time and money finding where Iran's remaining defence systems are hiding underground.
Around 15 countries use the F-35 today. Even India was offered this jet by Trump during PM Modi's White House visit — though India has not shown interest so far.
Geopolitical expert Adam summed it up simply — a heavily sanctioned country just tracked, chased, and hit the world's most expensive stealth jet. That is not a small thing.
Sometimes, one moment changes everything.
(Girish Linganna is an award-winning science communicator and a Defence, Aerospace & Geopolitical Analyst. He is the Managing Director of ADD Engineering Components India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany.)
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or position of the publication, its editors, or its management. The publication is not responsible for the accuracy of any information, statements, or opinions presented in this piece.
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