Former Punjab cop, lawyer among 7 arrested in fake passport racket case

According to the police, Saxena (42) used to run a tours and travel business. “He had then got in touch with passport agents – mostly from around Delhi-NCR – who were looking to forge documents to make fake visas and passports,” said an officer.

For the last four months, a team of Crime Branch Inter State Cell, had been tracking Saxena, who operated from Lucknow. To catch him and his aides in the middle of executing a forgery, the Delhi Police set up a trap.

Additional CP (Crime) Sanjay Kumar Sain said, “A decoy client was engaged to make a deal with the accused for a new passport .”

Saxena was approached for the same, and in no time, fake Aadhaar Card, Voter ID card, and birth certificate of the decoy client — Kamal Kumar Sharma — propped up, said police. “Using these fake documents, they applied for a fresh passport,” Sain said. Sufiya and other agents allegedly helped Saxena in the process, said police.

Saxena was waiting to deliver the new passport to the decoy client on February 25 when the Crime Branch raided his office and arrested him. In the next few days, Sufiyan, Atul Kumar, Sukhdeep Singh and Zafar were arrested, police said.

They added that during questioning of the accused, it came to light that two of their “high-profile” clients were former policeman from Punjab, Harpal Singh (57), and Monu (27), a member of the Bawana gang.

The police said Harpal was suspended from Punjab Police and has seven cases lodged against him. “With his sons settled in the US and Canada, his plan was to take the rest of his family to the US. From Sufiyan, he got fake passports made for himself, wife and daughter,” Sain said.

Monu, meanwhile, has five cases, including that of murder, against him. “Monu got his fake passport from the accused last September using forged Aadhaar Card and Voter ID. He was planning to flee to Dubai and then the US,” Sain said.