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Three government officials, who have been arrested by Kurnool district police for helping underworld don Abu Salem and his two wives in securing passports from the Hyderabad passport office, were produced before a magistrate's court in Kurnool town on Monday and remanded to judicial custody.
Superintendent of Police N Sanjay said Assistant Sub-Inspector S Sattar, passport section clerk Srinivas and mandal revenue inspector Mohammed Yasin were arrested after the police had booked a case against them under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 417 and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and section 12 of the Passport Act.
They have been charged with facilitating the issuance of passports under fictitious names and false addresses to Abu Salem, Monica Bedi and Sabeena Azmi without verifying their antecedents.
Meanwhile, Regional Passport Officer (Hyderabad) Sevla Naik has informed the Central Bureau of Investigation that the three passports issued to Salem, Monica and Sabeena under the assumed names of Ramil Kamal Malik, Sana Malik Kamal and Neha Asif Jaffrey, were revoked in March this year.
Soon after reports of Salem's arrest in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in December 2001, the passport office here had conducted an enquiry. The then superintendent of police, Kurnool district, had also conducted a probe. The district police found that some passports were issued to bogus persons and recommended action. Subsequently, the regional passport office cancelled the passports of Salem and his two wives.
"We do not know how they [Salem and Monica] travelled to Lisbon. They might not have used Indian passports," the regional passport officer said.
Home Minister T Devender Goud said that the state government would take drastic action against those found guilty of facilitating the issuance of passports to Salem and others.
"There are many loopholes in the system. We need more staff and more resources for verification of passport seekers. Every month, we are getting 17,000 passport applications in the state. It takes a lot of time for verification of their antecedents. It is a strain on the police department," Goud said.
"We will definitely look into all these issues. We are going to make a thorough check to verify as to how many criminals in the state have managed to secure passports. We will also be writing to the external affairs ministry [which exercises jurisdiction over the regional passport offices] to provide us the resources for conducting enquiries into the antecedents of all passport seekers," he said.
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