Himalaya Harbinger, Rudrapur Bureau
Mumbai Police on Thursday, interrupted the travel plans of a 25-year-old passenger after the immigration officials discovered that the individual had four missing pages in her passport.
According to a report by TOI, SS Ghatol, a fashion merchandising student was stopped to board her flight to Singapore after the immigration officials found missing pages in her passport. Ghatol was travelling on a tourist visa to complete an internship sponsored by her institute.
As per the police, Ghatol had taken the step to mutilate the passport to hide from her institute about a trip to Thailand that she had taken from February 11-14, 2024. She reportedly sought an exemption from an exam during that period by claiming that she was unwell.
Ghatol feared that the institute would find out after she was asked to submit her passport for being shortlisted for the internship in Singapore, reported TOI. She has been charged with cheating and violations under the Passport Act
Earlier, a 33-year-old Satara-based businessman was arrested for allegedly replacing the stamped pages from his passport with blank pages. On questioning it was revealed that the businessman had purportedly replaced the pages to hide his travel history from his spouse.
The accused had visited Thailand a couple of times with his friends without informing his wife and had therefore replaced the stamped pages on his passport with blank pages. However, he was apprehended at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport while attempting to fly to Bangkok again.
A case was registered against him under section 318 (4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for cheating and relevant sections of the Indian Passport Act, 1967.