CID to re-probe officers' role in issue of fake passport to LeT man

BHOPAL: The MP criminal investigation department (CID) has initiated a fresh investigation to ascertain the culpability of passport authorities, especially the then passport officer TD Sharma, pertaining to issuance of a passport to Sameer Khan Pathan - an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative - who was gunned down by Gujarat police in 2002.
Pathan was shot dead by Ahmedabad City Crime branch on October 22, 2002, claiming that he was on a mission to kill Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.
CID started investigations into issuance of the passport in 2010 following an official communication from the Gujarat police and an FIR was registered against five persons including the passport officer and three employees of the passport department for issuing a passport to Pathan.
He had allegedly obtained passport in the name of Nawab Khan Haiyyatkhan Pathan from here to visit Pakistan on January 13 in 1998, said sources.
CID officials arrested two persons -- a school teacher and a passport agent from Bhopal in November 2012. Those arrested have been identified as Subash Vyas alias Guru, 40, resident of Shajapur and passport agent Abu Bakr, 60, resident of Bhopal.
More people, including three employees of the regional passport office (RPO), Bhopal, were placed under scanner for Pathan's passport, which he had allegedly obtained in the name of Nawab Khan Haiyyatkhan Pathan from here and had used the same to visit Pakistan on January 13 in 1998, said sources. The passport was delivered to Pathan despite an adverse report from the Shajapur police.
While Vyas was arrested for arranging a school-leaving certificate and a ration card from Akodiya village in Shajapur district, Abu Bakr was picked up for processing the passport application form without proper verification.
Sameer Khan Pathan, a resident of Khaanjan Darwaza in Gujarat's Jamalpur area, was shot dead by the Gujarat's crime branch officials on October 22 in 2002 after he allegedly tried to snatch a police officer's weapon and kill him to escape from police custody.
After the encounter, the then DCP (Ahmedabad) DG Vanzara, had held a press conference and told media that Pathan had undergone a terrorist training from LeT in Pakistan in 1998 on a passport acquired from Bhopal. The officer also alleged that Pathan was trained to kill Modi and Vishwa Hindu Prashid (VHP) leader Praveen Togadia.
Pathan's killing had courted a controversy following an RTI application from Gujarat deputy inspector general (DIG) (armed units) Rajkot Rahul Sharma at the office of Gujarat director general of police (DGP), seeking details of the Pathan encounter case.
There is also a contradiction in the issuance date of passport and Pathan's alleged journey to Pakistan with it. During trials in Gujarat court, the then passport officer of Bhopal - T D Sharma - had testified in the court that a passport in the name of Nawab Khan was delivered only on March 27, 1998 and thus it did not form subject matter of the conspiracy.