Ahmedabad: For many Indians deported from the United States, returning home does not mark the end of their legal troubles. Instead, some face prosecution in India for allegedly using forged or fraudulently obtained passports to travel abroad or return after deportation.The latest case involves a 51-year-old man from Mehsana who was arrested at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport after being deported by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).Immigration officials alleged that although he was permitted to enter India on an emergency certificate issued by the Indian Embassy in Washington, he travelled on a fraudulently obtained Indian passport belonging to another individual.According to the complaint filed by immigration authorities, the man had left India in March 2011 on his original passport and did not return. After being deported, he landed in Delhi on June 28.During immigration checks, officers allegedly noticed discrepancies in the passport, including the colour of the biodata page, the font of the passport number and an improper ghost image. Database verification showed that the passport number belonged to another Indian citizen and had already been reported lost.Officials also stated that the passport in possession of the deportee was issued in Ahmedabad in 2018, despite records showing he had never re-entered India after leaving in 2011. A forensic examination further revealed differences in ultraviolet security features, including the security thread and guilloche patterns, leading investigators to conclude that the Indian passport was fake.Since the passenger did not possess the emergency certificate physically, immigration officials granted him arrival clearance through a manual entry based on the embassy-issued document instead of the passport he was carrying. However, airline records allegedly showed that he had boarded the flight using the fake passport.Delhi Police subsequently registered an FIR under provisions of the BNS relating to cheating, forgery and using forged documents, along with Section 12 of the Passport Act.
