BENGALURU: A Bengalurean returning from Dubai to the city was held by Immigration officials at Kempegowda International Airport for removing pages that had visa stamping on them, from his passport. The document was in two pieces, and he was booked for tampering with it under the Passport Act.
Tarun Kumar, a resident of Vasanth Nagar, who arrived by Emirates flight EK 564 on Monday, was detained by immigration officials as soon as they saw his passport, DCP Anoop Shetty told TNIE. “Pages 9, 10, 31, 32 and 34 had been torn off and were missing.
Also, pages 3, 4, 5 and 6 were separated from the rest of the booklet. This amounts to tampering with the passport, which is a serious offence, and an FIR has been filed against him at the Airport police station under Sections 12 (1)(b) of the Passport Act.” The section deals with attempts to alter entries made in a passport or travel document.
A police source said Kumar had claimed the pages in the booklet went missing during a fight with his wife. “The truth behind his claims are being investigated,” he said. Meanwhile, police issued a notice to him after booking a case. “The passport has been seized and further probe is on,” he added.
This is a a different case, as tampering with facts in passports or forgery are usually the case. Removal of numerous pages from the identity document which would make the offence quite obvious is rarely done, said a source.