BENGALURU: City police have arrested a gang of six people involved in a fake passport racket. The accused also include employees of BangaloreOne.
The accused have been identified as Saleem Sharif, 57, Muneer Ahmed alias Kurum Khan, 45, Mohammad Iliyas, 40, Mohammad Abdullah, 68, Siddaraju, 40, and Naveen, 21.
The gang had arranged a passport for one Anwar Hassan, an accused involved in the attempted murder of Chetan, co-owner of Times Bar here.
Ashok Nagar police, who interrogated Anwar, learnt that he had been involved in many criminal cases in Mangaluru and Udupi. Anwar had managed to get a passport using fake documents and had claimed that he was a resident of MICO Layout. He had gone to Dubai to meet contract killer Asgar Ali after he was approached by Rakesh, Chetan’s business partner.
Police said Anwar had arranged fake passports for the prime accused Ali and his aides Imran alias Mohammed Imran, and Suresh, both from Mangaluru, and Suhail Khan, a native of Andhra Pradesh.
Police said when Anwar was questioned, he confessed that he had given `30,000 to get the passport. The Bangalore One employees Siddaraju and Naveen were part of a gang which had arranged 25 fake passports. “We have issued a notice to the senior officials of the passport office to find out if any officials might have been involved in the racket,’’ said Sandeep Patil, DCP (Central).
The police seized fake documents and passports that had been created by the accused and further investigations are on.
The culprits
■ Siddaraju and Naveen who were employees at BangaloreOne were providing the hologram for the voter ID cards meant for other people.
■ Muneer Ahmed alias Kurum Khan, who was in contact with a passport agent would approach people who were unable to get passports. He would then take Saleem Sharif’s help in arranging the passports for `25,000 to 30,000.
■ Mohammad Iliyas, who runs a cyber cafe in the city, was an expert in printing and creating fake birth certificates.
Mohammad Abdullah would get fake voter IDs and other documents