Bengaluru: The Ashoknagar police busted a racket that provided passports by furnishing fake documents, recently.
The crime came to light when, the police who were probing a shootout case, got the information from one of the accused that he had gone to Dubai using a passport that was provided by the racketeers.
The police have arrested six men, including two contract employees of Bangalore One centres, in this connection.
The accused have been identified as Saleem Sharif, 57, Muneer Ahmed alias Khuram Khan, 45, Mohammed Iliyaz, 40, Mohammed Abdullah, 68, Siddaraju, 40, and Naveen, 21. Among the accused, Khuram Khan was the kingpin of the racket while Saleem Sharif used to bring those who wanted fake passports to Khuram Khan.
Mohammed Iliyaz used to create the fake documents using certain software, while Siddaraju and Naveen, who worked at Bangalore One centres, helped the accused by providing them the logo of voter ID cards, Aaadhar card and other ID proofs. All the accused are residents of LIC Colony in Jayanagar and surrounding areas.
The accused have confessed that they have issued fake passports to more than 25 people. The accused charged between Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 from each person to give them the passport. They used to mislead the police by informing them that they are neighbours of the passport applicant and the applicant was staying in the particular address from many years,” said the police sources.
