Police crack whip on fake passports

HYDERABAD: The state police have launched a major crackdown on erring officials and passport agents following the arrest of a Hyderabadi with a fake passport in Bangalore recently.
Consequently, an assistant sub-inspector was suspended and a passport racket kingpin and an agent arrested for their respective roles in passport-related offences.
Commissioner of police M V Krishna Rao suspended assistant sub-inspector P Chandrasekhar, posted at the Begumpet police station, for clearing the passport of Mohammed Usman.Usman was recently detained in Bangalore for his alleged role in the recent Mumbai blasts.
Police also arrested passport agent Syed Usman, a resident of Chatrinaka, who helped Usman alias Mohammed Fahim obtain the fake passport. Efforts are on to nab another passport agent Mohammed Fasiuddin.
According to the police, Chandrasekhar was a head constable with the City Special Branch in 1997 and was responsible for clearing passports under the jurisdiction of Chatrinaka police station limits. He did not verify the antecedents of the applicant, but submitted a clearance report, following which Usman could secure a passport claiming he was a resident of Chatrinaka.
Police sources said Usman alias Fahim has been associated with the underworld along with his friend Mohammed Aziz alias Bombay Javeed, also a resident of Hyderabad.
Aziz is now lodged in the Thane jail in Maharashtra. He was arrested in Lucknow while taking delivery of a consignment of arms on behalf of gangster Chhota Shakeel, the sources told The Times of India.
“We are now looking for Fasiuddin and also verifying with the Maharashtra police for a detailed account of the activities of Fahim,� a senior officer said.
Meanwhile, the Bangalore city police commissioner has sent a letter to his Hyderabad counterpart saying that the latter may depute a team to take custody of Mohammed Fahim, if he is wanted.
Police are also on the look out for two ISI agents with alleged links with Hizbul Mujahideen. The duo jumped bail and vanished from the city.
The police, however, had in August 2001 managed to arrest Mohammed Aziz alias Ashrafi and his associate Mohammed Nissar.
Some arms, ammunition and explosives were seized from the two militants. Police had seized video clippings of the Chechan and Bosnian conflicts and the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya from their possession. The duo used these clippings to instigate Muslim youth to take up arms in the name of jihad.
The duo managed to get bail and give intelligence agencies the slip. Following the recent Mumbai blasts, inquiries by police revealed that the two militants have been ‘out of view’ for a long time, raising the suspicion that they might be plotting a fresh wave of terror, sources said.
The police also arrested M Ramachandra Reddy, the kingpin of a fake passport racket which specialised in sending Gujaratis abroad. Police had unearthed the racket in July following a complaint lodged by the immigration officials.
Assistant commissioner of police, Begumpet, Reddanna told reporters on Thursday that Reddy used to run the passport racket from his office in Babu Khan Estate, Basheerbagh. Reddy opened an agency in Ahmedabad and used agents to attract people who wanted to go to the US.