City police on Wednesday detained the owner of a travel agency and are inquiring into a case where officials are allegedly involved with preparing a fake certificate for a lost passport in Kasimedu.
Police said a man from Kasimedu had approached the police station for a ‘non-traceable’ certificate claiming that he had lost his passport.
After receiving no response from the police station, he reportedly applied for the same at the city police commissioner’s office. Meanwhile, the man received a certificate with a seal on it.
Police sources said when police personnel from the commissioner’s office responded to his application, they found that he already had a certificate. Police said that usually the Crime Records Bureau issued such certificates for lost passports after the applicant applied for it at the commissioner’s office.
Upon investigation, police said they discovered that the man had received a fake non-traceable certificate. They also found that a travel agency owner, Selvam, of Washermanpet, police constable Arul of Kasimedu police station and writer Ramamritham of MKB Nagar police station were allegedly behind it. The police personnel were reportedly responsible for maintaining information on cases in a police station.
Police said they detained Selvam since they found money had exchanged hands in return for the certificate.