New Delhi: The man arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police while illegally entering Nepal via the border in Maharajganj district in July this year has turned out to be a UK national who had allegedly jumped the immigration flap gate at the Delhi airport last year to evade deportation to his home country.
At the time of his arrest by the police in Maharajganj district, the man was identified as Jordan Brown, a former US naval officer who allegedly revealed during questioning that he entered India via a sea route.
However, the UP Police have established his real identity as fugitive—a UK national wanted by the Delhi Police in a case involving escape from authorities at Delhi Airport in October last year. He was en route from Thailand, being deported to the UK when he jumped the gate at Delhi airport and escaped to UP.
Shortly after the arrest, Maharajganj Superintendent of Police Shakti Mohan Avasthy had said that he identified himself during questioning as Jordan Brown and that he was from California.
The Maharajganj district police last week charged Fitzpatrick, for forgery and under the Immigration Act. Since his arrest in July, Fitzpatrick has been in judicial custody after his two bail pleas were dismissed by the local court in Maharajganj.
Sources privy to the probe said that the Maharajganj Police has informed Delhi Police officers probing the case. ThePrint reached the IGI Airport Deputy Commissioner of Police, Vichitra Veer on a Whatsapp calls and messages. This report will be updated when we receive a response.
From UK to Maharajganj via Thailand & Mysuru
The India chapter of Fitzpatrick’s criminal history allegedly began on the intervening night of 28 and 29 October last year, when he was in the international transit area at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, being escorted by Air India ground staff to a flight to the UK.
“He was jailed for nearly a year in Thailand and was in the middle of deportation when he decided to jump the immigration flap gate and skip the authorities,” a senior UP Police officer told ThePrint.
“He was also a convict in his home country in a case of sexual assault against a child and fled his home country to Thailand, where too he committed a crime leading to months in jail,” the officer said.
The matter came to light when Air India lodged a missing passenger complaint with the Bureau of Immigration, which handles the entry and exit of foreign nationals at international airports in the country. Upon reviewing CCTV footage from the airport, Fitzpatrick was seen jumping the immigration gate and fleeing.
“The pax then purportedly jumped over the Immigration flap gate at the immigration counter no 47 (Zone -2) at approx 0730 hrs and subsequently crossed the Indian Customs area. Consequently, the pax exited the Terminal 3 building 3. The whole incident was intimated to immigration authority through a letter provided by Air India,” the FIR filed based on the complaint of an immigration officer reads.
The Delhi Police had, in October, booked Fitzpatrick under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, and launched a probe. However, the Delhi Police filed an untraced report in June this year, submitting its inability to find Fitzpatrick.
“SHO IGI Airport is directed to make more efforts to trace the accused and file a report on NDOH (next date of hearing).” Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Pranav Joshi observed in his daily order in June this year.
Nearly a month later, Fitzpatrick was detained by the Sashastra Seema Bal from border pillar no. 516 along a footpath under the Bhagwanpur police outpost in Maharajganj and handed over to the police for further investigation.
Sources privy to the investigation said that after skipping the authorities in Delhi, Fitzpatrick travelled to Mysuru in Karnataka and Goa before attempting to flee to Nepal via an open land border in Maharajganj.
“He had fraudulently made a driving licence of a residential address in California to adopt a different identity,” another officer said. “He pursued the Nepal route presuming it to be safer for him to evade law enforcement and immigration officials.”
(Edited by Viny Mishra)