New Delhi, Mar 7 (PTI) Crime Branch of the Delhi Police has busted a fake passport syndicate allegedly involved in assisting gangsters and criminals flee abroad using forged identities, an official said on Friday.
The operation led to the arrest of the syndicate’s mastermind, Nishant Kumar Saxena, along with six other associates, including a member of the Neeraj Bawana gang, he said.
“The Crime Branch had been tracking a syndicate engaged in creating fake passports for gangsters, wanted criminals, and parole jumpers. Over four months of surveillance, the investigative team gathered intelligence on the gang’s operations,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sanjay Kumar Sain said.
The accused forged Aadhaar cards, voter IDs, PAN cards and other government-issued documents using fabricated names and addresses.
These fake credentials were then used to secure legitimate Indian passports through their sources in the passport offices, primarily in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
The syndicate’s services were sought by criminals facing legal proceedings, allowing them to escape prosecution and continue unlawful activities overseas.
Based on specific inputs, a decoy operation was launched. A covert agent posed as a client seeking a fake passport under a fake name said the Additional CP.
The prime suspect, Nishant Kumar Saxena, along with his associate Sufiyan, facilitated the creation of counterfeit identity documents. The team further discovered that the passport application had been processed through illicit means with the help of certain Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) officials.
“On February 25, a raid was conducted at Saxena’s office in Lucknow, leading to his arrest. The police seized multiple fake passports, CPUs, mobile phones, and an extensive cache of forged documents. Teams recovered six fake passports, 12 mobile phones, two laptops, two CPUs, one PVC colour card printer, approximately 1,000 blank and pre-filled PVC identity cards, including Aadhaar, Voter ID, PAN, and Ayushman cards, 12 stamps of banks and government institutions,” said the Additional CP.
Following Saxena’s arrest, the police apprehended six more people, including key players in the racket.
He said that the team arrested Saxena (42), the mastermind and an advocate by profession, who transitioned from the travel business to forging fake documents and obtaining fraudulent passports for criminals and Sufiyan (28) an agent operating outside PSK, Lucknow, suspected of links with corrupt officials.
Police also arrested Atul Kumar (34), who specialised in forging Aadhaar cards and other supporting documents, Sukhdeep Singh (36), a Haryana-based consultant who referred clients to Saxena, Monu alias Aryan (27), a gangster associated with the Neeraj Bawana gang, who had five previous criminal cases, including murder and arms trafficking.
They also arrested Harpal Singh (57), a history sheeter from Punjab with seven previous cases of fraud and forgery. He had also arranged fake passports for his wife and daughter, intending to flee to Canada or the US.
The officer further said that the investigation revealed that the racket had assisted several criminals in securing fake passports. Among them was Gurvinder Singh from Ludhiana, who was deported from the US following the discovery of his fraudulent documents. Authorities in Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi are coordinating efforts to identify and apprehend more individuals who may have illegally obtained passports through the syndicate.
One of the key suspects, Monu alias Aryan, had a criminal record spanning multiple murder and arms-related cases. His fake passport, acquired in September 2024, was intended for travel to Dubai before proceeding to the US.
The police are also probing potential links between the racket and officials at passport offices who may have facilitated the issuance of fraudulent documents. PTI BM HIG
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