The Punjab police on Saturday caught Ritu Kumar, another accused in the Moga passport scam, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
Kumar was returning from the US with the body of her mother when police arrested her. The duty magistrate here has sent Kumar to two-day police remand.
Inspector Shiv Chand, member of Special Investigation Team of Moga passport scam, told The Indian Express, “Kumar’s parental home is in Rohini, Delhi. She married one Vicky from Jalandhar and in 1995 went to the US with her husband. While she was in the US, in 2006 through an agent, she used forged documents to get a fake passport as a resident of Balbir Basti in Baghapurana, Moga. We have recovered the fake ration card and school certificate which was used to get the fake passport and will be interrogating Kumar to gather information on the agent who got the passport made.”
The infamous passport scam rocked Moga district in July 2008 when it was found that hundreds of fake passports had been issued to various residents in connivance with officers of the Punjab Police, post office and the local passport office.
In July 2008 the police registered a case in the passport scam based on a statement by a police official. The SIT subsequently confirmed that at least 390 fake passports had been issued in the name of Moga residents. The police sent a list of all accused to all airports in the country and till now many accused who landed from other nations have been caught at Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Amritsar airports.
Three policemen Gurdyal Singh, Jaswinder Singh and Ranjit Singh have already been suspended for their alleged role as mastermind in the scam.
While more than 14 travel agencies from Moga, Ludhiana and Chandigarh are allegedly involved in the scam, over 90 people have already been arrested by the police since 2008.
Source: Indian Express