Passport officer faces chargesheet for aiding LeT operative visit Pak

BHOPAL: Three years after taking up investigations, state criminal investigation department is all set to file charge-sheet against then passport officer and other officers in the department, pertaining to issue of a passport to Sameer Khan Pathan, alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, who was gunned down by Gujarat police in 2002.
CID had initiated a fresh investigation to ascertain the culpability of passport authorities, especially then passport officer in the case.Pathan was shot by Ahmedabad City crime branch on October 22, 2002, claiming he was on a mission to kill then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.
CID started investigations in 2010, following an official communication from Gujarat police and an FIR was registered against five persons, including passport officer and three employees of the passport department for issuing a passport to Pathan. He allegedly obtained passport in the name of Nawab Khan Haiyyatkhan Pathan from here to visit Pakistan on January 13 in 1998, said sources.
CID officials arrested two persons, a school teacher and a passport agent from Bhopal in November 2012. Those arrested have been identified as Subash Vyas alias Guru, 40, resident of Shajapur and passport agent Abu Bakr, 60, resident of Bhopal.
More people, including three employees of regional passport office (RPO), Bhopal, were put under scanner for Pathan's passport, which he allegedly obtained in the name of Nawab Khan Haiyyatkhan Pathan from here and had used it to visit Pakistan on January 13, 1998, said sources. The passport was delivered to Pathan despite an adverse report from the Shajapur police.
While Vyas was arrested for arranging a school-leaving certificate and a ration card from Akodiya village in Shajapur district, Abu Bakr was picked up for processing the passport application form without proper verification.
After Pathan's encounter, then DCP (Ahmedabad) DG Vanzara, had held a press conference and told media that Pathan had undergone a terrorist training from LeT in Pakistan in 1998 on a passport acquired from Bhopal. The officer also alleged that Pathan was trained to kill Modi and Vishwa Hindu Prashid (VHP) leader Praveen Togadia.
Pathan's killing had courted a controversy following an RTI application from Gujarat deputy inspector general (DIG) (armed units) Rajkot Rahul Sharma at the office of Gujarat director general of police (DGP), seeking details of the encounter.
There is also a contradiction in issue of date of passport and Pathan's alleged journey to Pakistan with it. During trials in Gujarat court, then passport officer of Bhopal, T D Sharma, testified that a passport in the name of Nawab Khan was delivered only on March 27, 1998, and it was not conspiracy.