The Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) is working diligently against a network of so called ”passport mafia”, who issue fake passports to notorious gangsters and terrorists allowing them to escape prosecution. Gangsters and other criminals flee abroad from various states of the country including Punjab. Investigation revealed that these fake passport makers have a nexus across the North-west India in states such as Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Jharkhand. Investigation by Punjab Police and police of other states revealed that 153 big, category A and B criminals have managed to escape abroad by getting passports made on the basis of fake documents. Of these, 47 criminals are from Punjab. These 47 gangsters are related to criminals like Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldie Brar and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria.
Based on this input and the instructions of the Union Home Ministry, the responsibility of investigating such cases has been entrusted to NIA. Now NIA will investigate the fake passport makers and take strict action against fake documents. Apart from this, passports prepared for more than 400 criminals involved in serious cases are also being examined. These cases are related to 6 states.
Investigation revealed that input from a large network of people making these fake documents has been received in big districts of Punjab, especially Mohali, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala, Ludhiana, Patiala etc. A large number of youth from these districts go abroad due to which the work of travel agents is flourishing there. Punjab Police and NIA will conduct a joint operation against the people who prepare fake documents and send them abroad, and will take action against those who make passports by preparing fake documents.
The Punjab Police and NIA will run joint operation against immigration companies. The gangsters who have fled through those passports are sitting abroad and setting up their own gangs. These include Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldie Brar, Darmanjeet Singh alias Derman Kahlon, based in America, Salkhbir Singh alias Landa, Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dalla, Ramandeep alias Raman Judge Canada and Sukhpreet Dhutrike in Canada. Following the instructions received by the Union Home Ministry in the joint meeting of different investigating agencies, a separate investigation has been started regarding the network of the concerned gangsters.
All the gangsters who fled abroad did not go abroad under their real names. They change their names from any state in India, get passports and other documents prepared and on the basis of those, flee to other countries. Instead of making fake documents from their native states, the gangsters get Aadhar Card, PAN Card, Ration Card, Voter Card etc. prepared from other states. The important role of travel agents has come to the fore in these.
47 gangsters who have fled abroad from Punjab, through their henchmen, are carrying out crimes in Punjab and other states of the country with the help of money. These gangsters are wanted in murder, extortion and similar cases in Punjab. Among these gangsters, Goldie Brar, the mastermind of the murder of singer Sidhu Moosewala, is at the top. Goldie is living in America under a changed name. He reportedly has relations with RPG attack mastermind Lakhbir Landa.