A probe into a minor's passport application has uncovered a forged-document nexus after officials discovered that one family used multiple identities to obtain passports, despite glaring mismatches in names, addresses, and dates of birth. The passports still cleared police verification.
Multiple Identities Used
According to police, the boy and his parents each used two identities to apply for passports. Several applications received clear police verification reports despite major discrepancies. The trigger came when the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Delhi found overlapping documents attached to different applications submitted by the same family during a system check.
FIR Registered
An FIR was registered on Wednesday at Sohna City police station against unidentified accused under sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120-B of the IPC, and Section 12(1)(b) of the Passport Act, 1967. These charges include cheating, forgery, use of forged documents, criminal conspiracy, and passport fraud.
Case Details
The case came to light when a minor applied for a passport this year as 'Akash Chawla', submitting a birth certificate and Aadhaar card. During scrutiny, the RPO found that a passport had already been issued to the same child in 2021 under a different identity — 'Jay Batra'. Police said the two applications carried different names, parents' details, addresses, and dates of birth, yet both had cleared police verification. This discovery prompted officials to examine the family's records.
Police said the father obtained a passport in 2023 as 'Sanjeev Chawla' after receiving a clear police verification report. Records, however, showed he had earlier applied in 2012 as Dhiraj Sharma, but that application was closed after an adverse police report.
The mother also allegedly used two identities. She first applied in 2012 as 'Deepa Sharma' and later secured another passport in 2023 as 'Seema Chawla'. According to the complaint, both applications cleared police verification.
Organized Racket Suspected
In its complaint to Haryana Police, the RPO said repeated identity changes and use of forged supporting documents pointed to the involvement of an organized racket. It added that Haryana STF had already been examining similar suspicious passport cases over the past year. In an earlier probe, the STF had registered a case against a Delhi Police sub-inspector in connection with a fake passport nexus that allegedly helped some gangsters flee India.
Police said passports numbered Y5262437, 37548648, K2345234, and 137548201 were allegedly obtained fraudulently with the help of an agent using fake names, forged documents, and fabricated addresses. The case, dated May 23, 2026, has been assigned to assistant sub-inspector Amir Singh. Police are examining the role of all those involved, including the people who prepared the forged papers and those who cleared the verification reports despite the discrepancies.
Police said they would initiate an investigation into how the applications passed verification.
