Indian passport scam: Sri Lankans among 15 arrested so far

The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday said the probe into a passport racket involving Sri Lankan nationals has revealed the involvement of 41 people, including Indian police and passport officials, and that a final report in the matter will be filed in a court soon.

The case was being probed by the Madurai division of the Tamil Nadu police’s Q Branch, that deals with extremist activities, after it received information that some Sri Lankan nationals were trying to obtain Indian passports to travel abroad.

A probe into procurement of passports by submitting fake documents revealed the involvement of 41 people, including five police officials, 14 zonal passport officers and two postal department employees, it said. A total of 15 persons — four Sri Lankan Tamils and 11 travel agents — have been arrested in connection with the case so far.

“The Q branch probe has been completed and the final report against the 41 persons is to be submitted in court,” the release added. Of these combined 175 passports, 28 had been obtained by Sri Lankan Tamils by producing fake documents and cases have been filed against them in different parts of the state.