Bigger goof-up in passport racket?

LUCKNOW: Probing into the forged identity and address verification reports (IAVR) which led to the issuance of a valid passport to Pakistani spy Sayyed Amir Ali, investigators are learnt to have stumbled upon somewhat similar lapses in 27 other passport applications processed along with that of Amir Ali at the Regional Passport Office (RPO) Lucknow.
Taking a serious note of the revelations that surfaced late on Wednesday evening, director general of police (DGP) Karamveer Singh ordered an "urgent inquiry" into the entire issue.Realising the sensitivity of the situation, DGP directed the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) to begin the probe on Wednesday evening itself.
Headed by deputy inspector general (DIG) ATS Rajeev Sabbarwal, a team of a dozen gazetted officers along with the subordinate staff began the probe under the personal supervision of additional director general of police (ADG) ATS AK Jain. The initial findings of the probe are expected by Thursday evening, sources said.
Her is a quick recap of Amir's case: Amir applied for a passport at the RPO Lucknow on April 24, 2005 (file number A 04812905) on a residential address of 117/84, Jamboor Khana, near Odeon Cinema, Kaiserbagh. The RPO issued an IAVR request to the Lucknow police for verification of Amir's credentials. In the first week of June, the passport office received the two duly certified IAVRs of Amir Ali that were dispatched from the Lucknow police department against dispatch number S-649.
After it was established that Amir Ali procured a valid passport on a bogus identity and a non-existent residential address, a probe was ordered to locate the lapses. During the probe, the RPO records revealed that an IAVR request of Amir Ali was sent to the Lucknow police on May 24, 2005. Duly certified IAVRs received at the RPO had the dispatch number S-649 allotted by the district police.
However, the corresponding records at the police department reveal that not a single IAVR request was received from the passport office on May 24, 2005. Moreover, their dispatch register showed that against dispatch number S-649, IAVR of one Sunil Saxena was sent and not that of Amir Ali.
Adding a fresh twist to the lapse, the passport office is learnt to have provided the DGP with a list 27 other IAVR requests that were sent to Lucknow police on May 24 along with that of Amir Ali. This turned out to be a serious issue as the records of Lucknow police show that not a single IAVR request was received from the passport office. The DGP has now ordered a detailed scrutiny of documents of the two offices.
The DGP has ordered physical verification of all the 27 applicants whose IVAR requests were supposedly sent to Lucknow police by the passport office on May 24, 2005 but which do not have a mention in the records of Lucknow police.