BHOPAL: Five more Afghan nationals have now been arrested from Kolkata in connection with the fake passport racket that was first exposed in August 2025 by the Madhya Pradesh Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
The five men arrested from different parts of Kolkata have been identified as Raza Khan (28), Ziyaul Rahman (30), Sultan Mohammad (27), Syed Mohammad (35) and Zafar Khan (23). They had been living for several years in areas under the Beniapukur and Bhowanipore police stations. According to officials, they were staying in India using fake passports that showed them as residents of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.
The arrested men were produced before local courts in Kolkata’s Alipore and Sealdah, which sent them on transit remand to Jabalpur. They were later produced before a competent court in Jabalpur, which remanded them to police custody for questioning.
With these fresh arrests, the total number of people arrested in the case has gone up to 11. Out of them, eight are Afghan nationals who were living in India using passports made through an inter-state fake passport racket that projected them as residents of Jabalpur district. Investigations by the MP ATS have also indicated that at least 30 Afghan nationals, mostly living in eastern India, may have benefited from the racket and have links to Jabalpur.
The case first came to light in August 2025 when the ATS arrested six people, including the alleged kingpin Sohbat Khan, an Afghan national who had been living illegally in Jabalpur for the past 10 years. He had also married a local woman. Two other Afghan nationals, Akbar and Iqbal, who were also living illegally in India on the basis of fake passports, were arrested from West Bengal at that time.
Three local residents of Jabalpur were also arrested in August 2025 for their alleged involvement in the racket. They were identified as Dinesh Garg, a forest guard working at the Jabalpur district collectorate’s election cell, Chandan Thakur, who claimed to be an advocate, and Mahendra Kumar Sukhdan.
According to the investigation, Sohbat Khan managed to get his own Indian passport made in 2020 using fake documents. He had earlier obtained a driving licence in 2015 using fake address proof and a forged birth certificate that showed him as a permanent resident of Jabalpur. With the same documents, he later secured Aadhaar, PAN and voter ID cards before obtaining an Indian passport.
Police said Khan then started helping other Afghan nationals who were living illegally in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh to get Indian passports using fake address proofs and birth certificates from Jabalpur district. He allegedly charged between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.20 lakh per passport.
Further investigations revealed a Maharashtra link to the racket. Akola, a communally and politically sensitive city in eastern Maharashtra, has emerged as a possible connection point between Khan and other Afghan nationals living illegally in India. During sustained questioning, Khan reportedly told ATS officials that a place of worship in Akola district was a common meeting point for Afghans living in India.
It was in Akola that Khan is believed to have come in contact with Akbar and Iqbal, who were living illegally in West Bengal and had obtained fake Indian passports through the racket operated by Khan and his local associates in Jabalpur.
The investigation is ongoing, and officials have not ruled out further arrests as they continue to probe the full extent of the inter-state network.