AMBALA: Three policemen, including an exemptee sub-inspector (ESI) and two head constables (HCs) were suspended by Ambala superintendent of police (SP) on Tuesday allegedly for their negligence in clearing a passport application made on the basis of fake documents through police verification, with the district top cop adding the the force will now reverify every passport issued in the year 2021.
The police said the cops who were suspended, ESI Balwan Singh and HCs Sahib Singh and Dalwinder Singh, were posted under Ambala City police station. The Ambala SP has also ordered departmental enquiry against five policemen in this case related to a fake passport.
Ambala SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said on Tuesday, "As per procedure for issuing a passport, police verification is done by our department to check any criminal record of the applicant. We have come across one case, in which an accused tried to obtain passport on the basis of fake residence proof and documents. It came to light that the concerned investigation officer (IO) who was deputed for police verification did not physically visit the address as mandatory in procedure. Due to this lapse by the policemen, we took action to open departmental enquiry and suspended (three) officials."
To a query, Ambala SP said, "We registered a case of forgery and cheating against the accused person (who tried to obtain fake passport). Soon, the person will be taken on production warrant as earlier he had obtained another passport from Karnal and he is under arrest there. Further action will be taken as per the investigation and even if any official from the department is found involved, action will be taken as per law."
The SP said that a mandatory exercise has been instructed to all the police officers that the concerned IO will physically visit the address of a passport applicant and take a photograph in front of the home along with witnesses and attach it along the application. "This will make it certain that the IO visited the address and who were the witness at the spot", said the SP.
20,000 passports made every year in Ambala dist
The SP said, "Approximately 20,000 passports are made every year in Ambala district and taking up the record of the last year (2021), the district police has started an initiative at the police station-level to reverify 20 passports in a day. We have made 15 teams for this purpose and security branch in-charge is reviewing this work. Reverification of all the passports issued in the year 2021 will be done."
On February 6, the Ambala police registered a case against three people for furnishing fake documents to get a passport. The accused have been identified as Rohit Arora of Amritsar, Raman Singh of Patiala and Shunty of Ambala. As per the information, Rohit Arora while applying for a passport at Regional Passport Office, Delhi, poised himself as Aditya Kumar of Ambala City and submitted fake documents in October last year. During Aditya's passport verification, Raman Singh and Shunty also furnished fake documents as witnesses.
While Raman Singh, a resident of Patiala, had poised himself as Raman, a resident of Ambala City, Shunty had poised himself as Mandeep. Rohit Arora was recently arrested by Karnal police.
A case was registered against Rohit, Raman and Shunty under Section 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 12 (offences and penalty) of the Passports Act at Ambala City police station on February 6. The Ambala SP added, "Rohit will be brought on production warrant for further investigation."
