Bhopal: Fake Passport Racket; 6 Arrested From Madhya Pradesh & West Bengal

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The MP-ATS has arrested six persons from Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal who were involved in fake passport racket, officials said here on Monday.

The alleged kingpin of the racket, 30-year-old Afghani national Sohbat Khan, spilled the beans about the racket when state’s anti-terrorism squad (ATS) questioned him in custody.

So far, six arrests have been made in the case by MP ATS. While four of the arrests including the racket’s alleged kingpin Sohbat Khan, his two key aides Dinesh Garg (forest guard working at the district collectorate’s election cell), Chandan Thakur (who claims to be an advocate) and Mahendra Kumar Sukhdan have been arrested from Jabalpur, Akbar and Iqbal (both Afghans living illegally in India) have been arrested by the ATS from West Bengal, said officials.

Akola, the eastern Maharashtra’s communally and politically sensitive city, has emerged as the fourth fourth major link of the recently busted interstate fake passport racket allegedly run by an Afghan man from Jabalpur district.

According to sources, Sohbat’s questioning has revealed that a place of worship in Akola district was a common meeting place of Afghans living in India.

It was in Akola where Sohbat possibly came in contact with Akbar and Iqbal, two other Afghans, who’ve been illegally living in West Bengal and have managed to get fake Indian passports with the help of the alleged racket operated by Sohbat and local contacts in Jabalpur district.

“When the first three arrests were made in the case, there were just three cities/states on our radar including Jabalpur , West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.

But Sohbat’s grilling and the disclosure of Akola in Maharashtra playing an important part in his links with Afghan men living illegally in India, has made eastern Maharashtra’s communally sensitive city too a part of our investigation,” said a senior official associated with the probe.