Mumbai: Woman held for forging arrival date on passport to keep Goa trip secret

The Mira Road resident used a fake rubber stamp to change her Mumbai arrival date in the passport. Representation pic

A 28-year-old woman's attempt to not let her mother know about her Goa vacation has landed her in police custody. After landing in the city from Dubai, where she works, the girl went straight to Goa with a friend for a vacation, but on returning she used a fake rubber stamp to change the date of arrival from Dubai so that her mother doesn't find out about the trip. However, while she was going back to Dubai last Friday, the immigration officers noticed the forged date and handed her over to the Sahar Police. She has been arrested for cheating and forgery.

Amber Badruzzoha Sayad, who has been working in Dubai since the last three years, returned to Mumbai on March 14 last year and went to Goa along with a friend. She came back to Mumbai on March 20. According to the Sahar Police, after she arrived in the city, she forged the arrival date on her passport to convince her mother that she had just arrived from Dubai as the government was planning to stop international flights due to the pandemic.

"While returning home from the airport she stopped at a stationary shop and used a rubber stamp to change the arrival date to March 20," a police officer said. "While she was returning to Dubai on February 19, the immigration officer at counter number 30 of the international airport found in the system that she had returned to Mumbai on March 14, 2020 but her passport shows March 20. The officer immediately took her to a senior," the cop added.

When the immigration officers questioned her about the date, she broke down and said that to keep the Goa trip a secret from her mom she changed the date using a rubber stamp. The officers then took her to the Sahar Police station.

"An FIR has been registered against her under sections 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC based on a complaint filed by the immigration officer," said Jagdish Deshmukh, police inspector, Sahar Police station. The woman was produced before the holiday court in Bandra on Sunday and remanded in police custody till February 22. The police said that they wanted to record her detailed statement and were yet to seize the rubber stamp.