HC dismisses appeal by main accused in fake passport scam
TNN | Oct 15, 2018, 11.56 AM IST
MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court has refused to set aside a trial court order convicting the mastermind of a passport scam, a case in which several government officials, including an IAS officer were named and eventually acquitted.
The mastermind, Kumar had helped a woman and her minor daughter - both Sri Lankan nationals to avail Indian passports, using which they left the country, to London.
Kumar forged documents such as ration card, birth certificate, obtained a verification certificate by illegal means and submitted false information about the applicants, using which he was able to get the passports for the two. In 2005, the incident came to light when 112 passports kept in the safe custody of regional passport office (RPO), Trichy got stolen. Of the 112, 52 were unclaimed passports returned from S Mariyoor post office after which a complaint was filed.
CBI had registered an FIR stating that officials of the RPO, Trichy had entered into criminal conspiracy with travel agents and submitted a final report before the additional sessions judge.
Of the nine accused, Kumar and his accomplice, Mohammed Ibrahim (now died) were convicted while others were acquitted. The IAS officer, S Ragupathy, who issued a verification certificate in favour of the woman who fled the country died pending trial and charges against him were abated.
Aggrieved over the trial court order which stated Kumar to undergo several months of rigorous imprisonment, he filed an appeal before the high court bench.
When the petition came up for hearing, justice G Jayachandran observed, “This is one of the classic case to understand how vulnerable Indian sovereignty at the the hands of corrupt and dubious people, who occupy high public post.”
After perusing the documents and submissions, the court noted that he had dishonestly induced the passport authorities to issue passport by furnishing fabricated document like ration card and false information regarding his name, surname and address and helped foreign nationals to get Indian passports and dismissed the appeal. The court directed the trial court to secure him and make him undergo remaining period of sentence.
TNN | Oct 15, 2018, 11.56 AM IST
MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court has refused to set aside a trial court order convicting the mastermind of a passport scam, a case in which several government officials, including an IAS officer were named and eventually acquitted.
The mastermind, Kumar had helped a woman and her minor daughter - both Sri Lankan nationals to avail Indian passports, using which they left the country, to London.
Kumar forged documents such as ration card, birth certificate, obtained a verification certificate by illegal means and submitted false information about the applicants, using which he was able to get the passports for the two. In 2005, the incident came to light when 112 passports kept in the safe custody of regional passport office (RPO), Trichy got stolen. Of the 112, 52 were unclaimed passports returned from S Mariyoor post office after which a complaint was filed.
CBI had registered an FIR stating that officials of the RPO, Trichy had entered into criminal conspiracy with travel agents and submitted a final report before the additional sessions judge.
Of the nine accused, Kumar and his accomplice, Mohammed Ibrahim (now died) were convicted while others were acquitted. The IAS officer, S Ragupathy, who issued a verification certificate in favour of the woman who fled the country died pending trial and charges against him were abated.
Aggrieved over the trial court order which stated Kumar to undergo several months of rigorous imprisonment, he filed an appeal before the high court bench.
When the petition came up for hearing, justice G Jayachandran observed, “This is one of the classic case to understand how vulnerable Indian sovereignty at the the hands of corrupt and dubious people, who occupy high public post.”
After perusing the documents and submissions, the court noted that he had dishonestly induced the passport authorities to issue passport by furnishing fabricated document like ration card and false information regarding his name, surname and address and helped foreign nationals to get Indian passports and dismissed the appeal. The court directed the trial court to secure him and make him undergo remaining period of sentence.
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