Fake passport trafficking ring: Pune police under scanner

The Borivli police have successfully dismantled a human trafficking ring that facilitated the illegal travel of 20 Bangladeshi nationals to foreign countries, particularly Gulf nations, through the fraudulent use of Indian passports.

Three police stations in the Pune commissionerate, namely Ramtekdi, Yerwada, and Santosh Nagar police stations, are under scrutiny by the Mumbai police. They are being investigated for verifying and checking the passports of nine Bangladeshi nationals. The police suspect that these stations may have cleared an earlier group of around 70 Bangladeshi nationals who were sent to the Gulf with fake Indian passports.

According to police sources, in the recent arrests, the Borivli police have apprehended a 46-year-old agent, Kusum Sandeep Gaikwad. It is alleged that she created fake rent agreements of deceased persons, along with her former office staff, including drivers, to produce Indian passports for Bangladeshi nationals, charging them Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 each.

Gaikwad faces charges of cheating and forgery for her role in producing Indian passports for Bangladeshi nationals using documents of her former employees. She used to run a tours and travel business previously. She also has several cases of cheating registered against her in the past.

During a search of her residence, counterfeit rent agreement documents were discovered. One of the documents was connected to a woman named Suman Tujara, who had passed away seven years ago, while another was associated with her former driver, Laxman Suresh, who left his job approximately five years ago. Gaikwad fabricated fictitious rent agreements for Bangladeshi nationals by manipulating their Aadhar cards and PAN cards. Notably, three of these fraudulent agreements featured the name of the deceased individual, Suman Tujara, with Bangladeshi nationals listed as occupants, while two other agreements bore the name of Laxman Suresh and listed Bangladeshi nationals as tenants. These individuals were arrested by the Borivli police last month, as reported by an officer involved in the investigation.

"Gaikwad has a criminal history, as she had been previously arrested by the Pune commissionerate police. She was arrested at Lashkar police station in a cheating case, along with one key witness in the Cordelia cruise ship drugs case, Kiran Gosavi (now deceased). This case involved the NCB officer Sameer Wankhede's arrest of Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan's son, Aryan, in 2018. Gaikwad and Gosavi allegedly cheated three individuals out of Rs 4.05 lakh by falsely promising them jobs in Malaysia and other foreign countries," the officer said.

The arrested accused had made 60 to 70 Bangladeshi nationals Indian passports and sent them to Gulf countries, especially Kuwait. File pics

Four individuals from Pune were arrested on Monday, including three Bangladeshi nationals (Mittu Shaikh, Salman Khan, Mubin Mandal), and one Indian agent, Gangaprasad Karpe, who, along with his associate Sainath Yeilwad (currently at large), used to operate an Aadhar card centre in Pune. They produced Aadhar cards for Bangladeshi nationals using forged birth certificates from a website. Accused Mittu and Salman Mandal are human trafficking agents in India living in India illegally, and they organised railway tickets for Bangladeshi nationals coming to India. During their investigation, the name of the accused agent Gaikwad was disclosed.

From the previous arrest of 20 Bangladeshi nationals, it appears that Gaikwad, Karpe, and Yeilwad, excluding these illegal Bangladeshi migrants, had made 60 to 70 Bangladeshi nationals Indian passports and sent them to Gulf countries, especially Kuwait.

"Gaikwad is considered the mastermind of this human trafficking gang, which also operates in the tour and travel business. She has contacts in various departments, including the police. After preparing the necessary documents, Gaikwad enrolled for passports, often using the "Diu Daman" and "Goa" regional passport centres for registration. Out of the nine passports that were seized, six were enrolled in the Diu Daman passport regional centre, while the remaining three were processed in the Panaji Goa centre and the documents were checked and verified by Pune's Ramtekdi, Yerwada, and Santosh Nagar police stations. They have doubts that the other 60 to 70 passports of the Bangladeshi nationals may have been verified by these three and its nearby police station in Pune. We have asked them to provide the details of each and every passport issued in recent years," said another officer.

Gaikwad has been produced before the court, and she has been remanded in police custody until November 4. Under the guidance of DCP Ajaykumar Bansal and senior inspector Ninad Sawant, a police team led by police inspector Pradeep Kale and PSI Pramod Nimbalkar is taking her to Pune today to investigate the case, he added.

"Significant progress has been made in dismantling this illegal migrant network. After the arrest of 21 individuals, including the agents involved, border infiltrations into India have been reduced by at least 10 per cent, thanks to our concerted efforts. Furthermore, illegal immigration into the state of Maharashtra has been completely curtailed," said Police Inspector Pradeep Kale of the Borivli police station.

46
Age of Kusum, the accused