Cop Forges Non-traceable Certificate for Missing Passports; Gets Suspension order

CHENNAI: A head constable attached to the Crime Wing of Anna Square Police station was suspended pending an inquiry into his role in the forgery of Non-Traceable Certificates (NTC) to help a group of five individuals who had lodged a false complaint of missing passports with the same police station.

The constable’s role surfaced only after Regional Passport Office officials established that the NTCs produced by the five applicants from Tiruchy that were issued by Anna Square Police were found to be forged after determining that there were no passports issued in the claimant numbers on the NTCs.

Officials brought this to the notice of the City Police. An internal inquiry revealed that the NTCs had been issued by Sukumar.

The investigations revealed that a quintet from Tiruchy approached Anna Square Police preferring a complaint last month that they had lost their passports while they were visiting the University of Madras. They told Sukumar that they were planning to get duplicate ones with their false claim.

Sukumar agreed to provide them with NTCs in return for a bribe from the quintet. Subsequently, he took a written complaint from the gang and issued the NTCs by forging the signature of the Inspector.

While processing the applications of the gang, the Passport officials learnt that no passports had been issued with the numbers declared on the NTCs.

The Passport Office raised a query with the applicants. None of them turned up to respond to the query. Meanwhile, the issue was raised with the City Police to find out whether the NTCs are genuine. Traditionally, NTCs are issued by the Station House Officer, 30 days after receiving the Community Service Register (CSR) receipt in case of theft/missing property for re-issuing the missing property or for claiming amounts from insurance.