Author: M Saleem Pandit
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 17, 2002
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?artid=31600113
The Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) on Tuesday busted a fake passport racket and arrested four employees
of the Srinagar Passport Office.
The CBI had received a surfeit of
complaints since the Srinagar Passport Office was reopened in 1997, sources
in the agency said. The office had been closed down in 1990 after the spurt
in militancy in the state.
The arrested have been identified
as Imtiyaz Ahmad, Nisar Ahmad, Showkat Ahmad and Mustaq Ahmad. While Imtiyaz
and Nisar were on deputation from the state government, Showkat Baba is
an employee of the external affairs ministry and Mustaq Ahmad a daily-wager.
The passport office, headed by home
ministry official John S Shilshi, has on its rolls 17 daily-wagers, along
with two permanent officials from the external affairs ministry.
A source in the CBI said former
passport officer Bashir Ahmad Zargar was charged with issuing fake passports
to even foreign militants.
