Middleman Held for Forging Passport Documents

The middleman who helped people secure fake documents to obtain passports illegally was produced in a local court here on Wednesday.

The accused has been identified as Manoj Kumar Lenka (27) a resident of Govindpur under Banapur police limits in Khurda.

Sources said police managed to extract crucial information about a well-oiled racket running from Banapur area of which Lenka was the kingpin. He and his associates were engaged in facilitating bogus identification and residential proof documents for his customers helping them obtain a passport.

As per police, Lenka had gained mastery in printing fake birth certificate, ration card, driving licence, certificate of educational qualifications, among others. He has admitted to have printed forged passports for six persons who successfully managed to crossover to Gulf countries and are employed there. His modus operandi was to look for people desperate to settle abroad but had no address proof or educational qualification.

Acting on the information provided by the four Bangladeshi immigrants, who were arrested a few days back, Lenka was apprehended from his hideout in Govindpur. The four accused had submitted fake documents at the Regional Passport Office here while applying for a passport. Besides, they were unable to speak Odia but their documents reflected them as locals with a local address. The contradiction raised suspicion of the officer verifying documents, following which a complaint was registered at Nayapalli police station and the four arrested.  They had later admitted to have secured the fake documents from Lenka and paid `30,000 each.

Police are verifying the number of fake documents that Lenka has prepared to help people get passports, said Suryamani Pradhan, IIC of Nayapalli police station.

Source: newindianexpress