Three Pakistani nationals were arrested with fake Aadhaar Cards and the police have now got hold of the man who helped them obtain the fake identities.
The Central Crime Branch, on Monday, arrested a gazetted officer, Dr CS Nagalakshmi from the Jayanagar Government Hospital for allegedly helping the Pakistani nationals obtain Aadhaar cards.
According to ACP Hemant Nimbalkar, Nagalakshmi was arrested for allegedly verifying the documents of the Pakistani nationals after a 26-year-old man named Mohammed Shihab from Kerala, brought the papers to her for verification.
The Crime Branch police also raided a house in Bengaluru’s Kumaraswamy Layout last Thursday and had arrested Shihab’s wife Sameera, her cousin Shamshuddin and his wife Kiron Ghulam Aali.
The ACP said that when Shihab was interrogated, he revealed that the documents were verified by Dr Nagalakshmi, after which he had produced them at an Aadhaar centre at Kadirenahalli. He then obtained the cards for all the three Pakistanis. He also said that Nagalakshmi had taken money from him to sign the papers.
Nagalakshmi, on the other hand, claimed that Shihab had approached her three months ago, asking her to verify the documents for Aadhaar cards. She claims to be unaware that the people were from Pakistan.
City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood told the media that at this point, they do not know why the three Pakistani nationals entered the country. He further said that Mohammad Shihab, a native of Kerala who was working in Qatar, had conspired with the three others to enter the country illegally.
On interrogation, police learnt that Shihab married Sameera while he was working in Qatar in the Gulf region two years ago despite opposition from her parents.
The Pakistani trio first reached Patna in Bihar after crossing the Indo-Nepal border from Kathmandu a year ago. They came to Nepal from Qatar via Muscat in Oman.
"We also learnt that the accused have been living in the city over the past nine months, with fabricated documents that were made with the help of local agents," said Sood.
"We will do the formalities, including informing the Pakistani Embassy and producing them in a local court for remand to investigate their presence in the city," added Sood.
The official at Kumaraswamy Layout PS added that cases had been registered against the four persons under Section 5 of the Registration of Foreigners Act, Sections 14 (A), (B) and (C) of the Foreigner’s Act, Section 12 of the Passport Act. Cases were also registered under sections 511, 120 (B), 201, 212, 379, 420, 465, 468, 471 of the Indian Penal Code, relating to theft, cheating, forgery, using forged documents, criminal conspiracy, giving false information and concealing information about criminal activity.