By Amiya Kumar Kushwaha
New Delhi, Mar 15 (IANS): Underworld don Chhota Rajan provided a false house address in Karnataka to get a passport in the name of a fictitious Mohan Kumar, according to a chargesheet the CBI filed in a court here.
Not just this, he used a fake voter identity card and a fake ration card to secure the travel document in the name of Mohan Kumar.
When Chhota Rajan was caught in Indonesia in October, he had a passport issued in the name of Mohan Kumar. Deported to New Delhi in November, the don is now lodged in Tihar Central Jail.
The chargesheet, filed before Special Judge Vinod Kumar last month, alleges that Chhota Rajan got his fake passport from Bengaluru in 1998-99 allegedly in connivance with then passport officers -- Jayashree Dattatray Rahate, Deepak Natvarlal Shah and Lalitha Lakshmanan -- in the name of a fictitious Mohan Kumar, whose address was given as 107/B Old M.C. Road, Azad Nagar, Mandya, Karnataka.
"The given address of Mohan Kumar does not exist in Old M.C. Road and Azad Nagar areas of Mandya," the chargesheet said.
The CBI said an inspection by revenue officials of the municipality in the presence of independent witnesses, including the municipal councillor, too confirmed the truth.
Postal workers also confirmed that house number 107/B does not exist in Old M.C. Road and Azad Nagar areas of Mandya and no Mohan Kumar ever lived there, the CBI added.
The CBI said no voter identity card and ration card was issued in the name of Mohan Kumar in that address.
The agency said that Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan submitted an application on December 10, 1998 at the Regional Passport Office in Bengaluru for a re-issue of a passport he claimed to hold.
But that passport, which was expiring and which numbered F004555, was in the name of one Enyat Akmal Khan. It had been issued on January 20, 1989.
The CBI chargesheet showed that this claim of Mohan Kumar was accepted by Lalitha Lakshmanan, one of the passport officers.
"Lalitha Lakshmanan also suppressed the facts that passport F004555 contained a photograph of a different person and the applicant and date of birth in the (new) application did not match with old passport details.
"Rahate, who was working as superintendent and passport granting officer, abused his official position and corrected the date of birth as per the old passport from July 24, 1969 to July 24, 1959 and granted her approval for issue of new passport against the details furnished in the (new) application," it added.
The chargesheet said the application was then sent for preparation of a new passport and passport number A6705840 dated January 1, 1999, and a handwritten passport was prepared by Shah.
"(Passport officer) Shah, using his authority as passport granting officer, issued the fresh passport A6705840 in the name of Mohan Kumar.
"Neither Rahate nor Shah waited for receipt of police verification from Mandya district police. Even no letter was issued to local police for getting verification of the passport," the CBI said.
The police told the CBI they had not made any verification in respect of 107/B Old M.C. Road, Azad Nagar, Mandya.
The CBI had in February filed the chargesheet against Chhota Rajan and the three passport officers who are now retired. All three appeared before the court on Monday and were granted bail.
The CBI has booked Rajan and the others on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, cheating by impersonation and forgery.
Chhota Rajan is wanted in over 85 cases, ranging from murder to extortion, smuggling and drug trafficking. He has cases pending against him in Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and with the CBI.
(Amiya Kumar Kushwaha can be contacted in amiya.k@ians.in)