Afghan national, a PU graduate, held for overstaying his visa, possessing forged Indian documents: Chandigarh Police

Police said Barak entered India on a student visa in 2015 and pursued graduation from Panjab University, adding that his visa expired in 2018, but he never renewed it thereafter. However, he continued to live in India “as a refugee and took up work as a taxi driver, clearly violating visa conditions that prohibit foreign students from engaging in any form of employment”, police said.

A case was registered following the complaint of the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), Amritsar, which stated that the accused had “not only overstayed his visa but had also illegally procured Indian documents by falsely claiming Indian nationality”.

In his application for a learner’s licence, Barak had falsely mentioned his place of birth as Chandigarh, India, despite being born in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on August 13, 1988, police said, adding this act of “providing false information and obtaining government-issued Indian documents is a serious national security concern”.

His Indian documents were also verified and confirmed to be illegally obtained, and relevant sections of the law have been invoked accordingly, police said.

During the investigation, the accused was arrested on July 19 in Mauli Jagran and produced before the court, which remanded him to a 14-day judicial custody.