Afghan national in Pune, who managed to get Aadhaar card and Indian passport, sent back

Qadiri had come to India on a student visa in 2014 and lived in Kondhwa area, said police sources. His details were registered with the Foreigner Registration Office of Pune City Police. While still on his student visa, he got married to a woman from Pune, which is a violation of visa norms, said police. He then procured an Aadhaar card and applied for an Indian passport. In the passport application, Qadiri mentioned details of his father, mother and spouse. Police suspect that Qadiri applied for a passport as he wanted to continue to live in Pune as an Indian national with his wife. His police verification process was completed by personnel from the Khadak police station in November 2017.

In the verification report submitted to the Passport Office, the police marked ‘no’ to the question “Is there any reason to believe that the applicant is not a citizen of India?” Sources confirmed that after considering the police verification report, a passport was issued to him by the passport office in Pune, in the name of ‘Abdul Hameed Noor Mohammad Qadiri’.

After the issue came to light, Qadiri was questioned by Pune City Police and following an investigation, he was issued a ‘Leave India’ notice. Joint Commissioner of Police, Ravindra Kadam, confirmed that Qadiri was sent back to Afghanistan. A senior police officer said the investigation had revealed that the Afghanistan national was not involved in any anti-national activities, but he was found committing “undesirable and illegal activities”, so action had been taken against him.

The case, however, has revealed the lapses in the system and police are going to initiate action against those who helped Qadiri procure the Aadhaar Card and Indian passport.