In a starling development, the Mandya police has said that the passport Chhota Rajan was carrying when was arrested might not be fake as the address mentioned in the passport is genuine.
Times of India reported that Karnataka police are investigating how the underworld don obtained the document claiming to be a resident of Mandya district in Karnataka. Chhota Rajan and unnamed officials had been booked by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the fake passport.
According to the TOI report, the don, who was arrested in Bali recently, was found to be carrying a passport (G9273860), which identified Rajan as P Mohan Kumar, a resident of Old MC Road, Azad Nagar in Mandya. It was issued in 2008.
Police found that Rajan had used the passport many times to travel to Australia and Africa, said the report.
The newspaper reported that pointing to a connection between the don and police, the Mandya district officers say that the passport might be genuine as Old MC Road and Azad Nagar are in Mandya town.
An officer, who didn't wish to be named, told TOI that the address in the passport falls under Mandya West police station. The police officers are trying to find how the passport was authorized.
However, when the police officers found no one by the name Mohan Kumar in the address mentioned the passport.
The sleuths have also checked old files of passport verification from Mandya West station, ration cards and voters list of Mandya town to identify such a resident, said the TOI report.
TOI said that the police have asked the Regional Passport Office in Bengaluru for details, however the passport officials have not responded.
This is an aggregation from Times of India