KOCHI: Nedumbassery police have launched a probe after a Bangladesh national was intercepted at Kochi airport for attempting to travel abroad with an Indian passport. Officials with the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) on Monday morning intercepted Apurbo Roy, 22, while he was set to board the flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka.
After interrogating Roy for hours, the officers ascertained that he was a Bangladeshi citizen who managed to obtain fake Indian documents. He stayed at Agartala in Tripura before moving to Karnataka. “BoI officials have found a scanned copy of a Bangladeshi passport issued in Roy’s name from his phone. A copy of his birth certificate has also been recovered from his iPhone. He was also carrying an Aadhaar card, election ID card, two PAN cards and an ATM card of an Indian private bank issued from Karnataka,” a police officer said.
“His Bangladeshi passport reveals that he visited India numerous times. He visited Agartala and during the period, managed to obtain the fake documents. The Indian ID cards carried an address of Bheemarayana Gudi in the Yadgir district of Karnataka. A detailed probe is required into the incident as the matter has national security implications,” a police officer said.
Police have decided to launch a detailed probe into the incident, including the purpose of Roy’s attempted visit to Colombo. As assistance from the police in other states and national agencies may be required during the probe, the case might be referred to the Crime Branch.
“We will be sending a team to the address given in the Indian passport and ID cards submitted by Roy. The people who helped the accused obtain the fake documents have to be identified and arrested. We suspect the involvement of an organised network behind it,” a police official said.
Apart from the documents, the officials also seized 300$ and around Rs 3,000 from him. Police registered the case against Roy for forgery, submitting fake documents as genuine and for violation of the Foreigners Act and Passport Act. The accused has been remanded to judicial custody.