NEW DELHI: A 48-year-old man, who had departed for London on a “fake passport” was caught at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI)Airport in the capital when he recently returned to his native land after spending nearly 20 years of his life abroad.
Following the arrest of the accused, identified as Fateh Singh, resident of Kurukshetra in Haryana, the Delhi Police, within five days, was also able to trace and apprehend a Haryana-based agent named Sukhdev Singh, who had facilitated Fateh’s journey by arranging another person’s passport for him, all those years back.
DCP (IGI) Usha Rangnani said Fateh Singh, holding an Indian passport, arrived at IGI Airport from London, United Kingdom and approached the arrivals for immigration clearance. On scrutiny of his travel documents and credentials, his last departure was not found available in the ICS system which indicated that the passenger had travelled on someone else’s passport or immigrated illegally.
Accordingly, the police registered a case under appropriate sections of law and launched a probe into the matter.
During questioning, Fateh Singh confessed to the crime and told the police that he had came in touch with an agent namely Sukha Singh through one of his friends as he wanted to go abroad for a better life.
“The agent Sukha Singh assured him to arrange his illegal journey to London in lieu of `5.5 lakhs. Thereafter, the agent arranged a ticket and someone else’s passport for his journey to London,” the DCP said.
For 18 long years – Fateh Singh resided in London without a problem. Life would have remained easy for him, had he not decided to return to India.
Based on his disclosure, a team was dispatched to Haryana which, through technical and manual surveillance, nabbed the accused agent Sukhdev Singh from one of his hideouts in Kaithal on the instance of the passenger.
The officer further said investigation in the matter is in progress to unearth the involvement of other agents and scrutinize bank accounts of the accused and to trace his possible involvement in other similar complaints or cases as well.