Flyers held for passport manipulation to hide travel details from family, friends or employers

MUMBAI: In the past year, Sahar police came across multiple incidents of flyers being apprehended for passport manipulation. Investigations revealed these individuals altered their passports details or tampered with the pages to obscure their travel records from family members, acquaintances or employers.
On Mar 14, Meghraj Kumar (31) from Bihar was stopped during immigration check at Mumbai International Airport before he could board a flight to Addis Ababa. Sahar police said the immigration officials first got suspicious when they found a temporary residency ID card of Ethiopia with Kumar.
Their suspicion grew stronger when the immigration official found Kumar had tampered with his passport and found pages five to eight torn and missing. "During inquiry, Kumar revealed that he tore the four pages from the passport to hide his previous travel history from the current employer based in Jeddah. Probe is also on to find out who helped Kumar to get the fake residency card," said a Sahar police station officer.
The officer said during inquiry, immigration official Naushad V J and duty officer Aman questioned Kumar about the missing four pages and located it in his possession, which he had extracted to hide his previous employment-related travels to Congo and Ethiopia.
In Dec 2024, Sahar police arrested a 26-year-old female passenger attempting to travel to Toronto to join a new job. Immigration officials halted her journey after discovering irregularities in her passport. Punjab resident Satveer Kaur was stopped from flying to Toronto after officials noticed she had tampered with the passport and deleted her arrival date into India.
Kaur had erased her arrival date of Sept 28 in India from the document to prevent her parents from knowing when she had returned and she went home only after meeting a male companion. "She said her parents were unaware about her arrival on Sept 28," said a Sahar police officer.
Kaur had returned to India after five years after completing her higher studies in Canada and was returning to join a new job when she was stopped.
In Aug 2024, a 25-year-old fashion merchandising student, S S Ghatol, was intercepted at the Mumbai airport on Thursday while attempting to board a flight to Singapore. Sahar police said immigration officials discovered four missing pages in her passport, which she had deliberately torn out to obscure her previous sojourn to Thailand from her college.
Ghatol, a first-year student, was travelling on a tourist visa to fulfil an internship in Singapore sponsored by her Worli-based institute. "She mutilated the pages to conceal her travel history from the college administration because she had taken leave from Feb 11 to 14. She availed of the leave after informing the college that she was unable to attend the exam during those dates due to ill-health," said a police officer.
In July 2024, a passenger was detained at the airport before he could embark on his flight to Thailand on Thursday after the immigration official discovered that he had tampered with 12 pages of his passport to conceal his previous travel records to Bangkok. Sahar police arrested the passenger, identified as Tushar Pawar (33), who claimed he committed the offence to avoid a confrontation with his wife, who was oblivious to his prior three trips.
Pawar, a graduate who operates a logistics business and resides with his family in Satara, is currently in judicial custody after being booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 318 (4) (cheating) and the Indian Passport Act. "Pawar was travelling with his client on an official trip to Thailand when he was detained. During interrogation, Pawar disclosed that he glued the 12 pages to conceal his three previous travel records to Bangkok and Thailand in 2023 and 2024 from his wife," said a police officer.