Mumbai: A Bangladeshi national was arrested at the Mumbai international airport on Monday after being deported from Russia for travelling on a fake Indian passport.
Following investigation, police established his identity as 39-year-old Mohammad Bappi Das Narayan Chandra Das. He is originally from Noakhali, a five-hour drive from the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka.
Mohammad didn’t have a hotel booking in Russia, a requirement for those entering the country on a work visa. This aroused the suspicion of Russian authorities who questioned him about the purpose of his visit. As he could not provide a convincing answer, he was deported from Russia.
On his deportation to India, the Sahar Airport Police at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) interrogated him. When the police realised that he was not an Indian citizen but a Bangladeshi national, he was asked to contact his family in Bangladesh on Whatsapp and ask for his documents. The documents received from his family established his Bangladeshi nationality.
During interrogation, Mohammad revealed that poverty drove him to seek work in Russia. He believed that posing as an Indian would increase his chances of getting a job in Russia. He obtained an India passport through an agent in Kolkata who used forged documents for the purpose.
After his confession, Mohammad was charged with multiple offences, including Sections 340(2) (forgery of documents or electronic records and using them as authentic), 336 (forgery), and 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. He was also charged under provisions of the Foreigners Act of 1946 and the Passport Act of 1967.