Mumbai: In a significant development, a 32-year-old Bangladeshi national claiming to be a Buddhist monk was apprehended at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, Maharashtra on Wednesday night.
Bipon Anil Barua, a resident of Bandarban in Bangladesh, was attempting to travel to Rome using an Indian passport acquired through fraudulent means, as per officials.
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The immigration officer discovered the irregularity when he entered Barua’s passport details into the system and found a Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against him by the Foreigners Registration Office (FRRO) in Mumbai.
A LOC serves as a notice preventing a person from leaving the country.
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Investigations revealed that Barua had obtained the Indian passport using counterfeit documents. According to the LOC remarks, he is a holder of a Bangladeshi passport.
Barua claimed to have entered India in 2015 through the Haridaspur border with the intention of propagating Buddhism as a monk. It was during his stay in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh in 2016, that he allegedly acquired a fraudulent Indian passport with the assistance of forged papers.
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Utilizing the illegally obtained Indian passport, Barua travelled to several countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom. During his arrest, immigration officials also recovered PAN and Aadhaar cards from him.
Following the apprehension, Barua was taken to the Sahar police station, where a case was registered against him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating, forgery, and using fraudulent documents.
Additionally, he was charged under the Passports Act. The authorities subsequently placed him under arrest.