Passport racket: CBI to seek details from FBI

NEW DELHI, NOV 4. In a bid to reach the bottom of the passport racket flourishing in the country, the CBI would soon approach the Federal Bureau of Investigaton (FBI) for further details in the case in which the agency has registered a case against a clerk of Ministry of External Affairs posted in Guyana.

Highly-placed agency sources said there were apprehensions that the absconding accused P. S. Mahar, an upper division clerk in the Guyana-based Indian High Commission, had links with ``someone in the American embassy'' who helped him in issuing visa to people.

The sources said there could be wider ramifications of the case as a middle-level consular official of the US Embassy was arrested by the American authorities for being involved in illegal issue of U.S. visas.

The sources said the arrest came into effect when Mahar was allegedly providing fake passports to various persons.

The CBI has registered a case against Mahar and some unknown officials and private persons for entering into an alleged criminal conspiracy and issuing fake passports overseas.

According to an FIR, the CBI alleged that Mahar, during his tenure in the consular section of the commission used to issue passports through forgery and falsification of documents.

The alleged forgery came to light when American embassy approached the High Commission for clarification regarding two persons, for whom the commission had issued a note verbale stating that a visa for U.S. and Canada could be issued to them as they were employees of the commission.

Meanwhile, the CBI is preparing a ``international lookout'' notice against Mahar, who had disappeared after the High Commission authorities had asked him to surrender his passport.

The CBI will also pick up threads of the case in the U.S., Georgetown and Hyderabad in order to reach the full ramifications of the case. The CBI also plans to clamp down on some tour operators in Hyderabad, who have acted as conduits in issuance of fake passports to several people.

This fact came to light after the passport of a woman was revoked in Frankfurt and she was arrested following detection that she possessed forged travelling documents, which were issued from Guyana. The woman, during her detention, confessed that she had never been to Guyana and that a travel agent in Hyderabad had helped her in securing the travel document.

- PTI

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