Punjab Congress legislator's brother-in-law held for fake passport

Chandigarh, Dec 26 - A Punjab legislator's brother-in-law, originally from Afghanistan but living here after allegedly procuring a passport with a fake identity and a wrong address, has been arrested, an official said Saturday.

Walid Khan, brother-in-law of Randeep Singh Nabha -- legislator from the Congress party -- was arrested late Friday after a complaint from intelligence agencies and the Regional Passport Office (RPO) here.

"Walid Khan had come to India in 1996 on a student visa after obtaining passport from Kabul, Afghanistan. After the expiry of his visa, he started living here on a refugee certificate that he got from the UN. We will also check the authenticity of this certificate," a police officer said.

"During the investigation, we found that Walid managed to obtain an Indian passport in the name of Wali and had given the address in Nabha town in Punjab where Randeep Singh lives. We have got all the required documents from RPO," the officer said.

The Indian passport of Walid carried a fake name and wrong address but has his own photograph.

Randeep Singh is married to an Afghanistan-based woman and lives here in up-scale Sector 5.

Police have informed officials at the Afghanistan embassy in New Delhi about the arrest.

After reaching India in 1996, Walid took admission in a three-year Bachelor of Arts course at Government College in neighbouring town Mohali. After completing his studies, he did not return to Afghanistan and started living with his sister and brother-in-law in Chandigarh.

In 2000, he got the refugee certificate and since then he is continuously renewing it. Presently his refugee certificate is valid till June 2010.

"Due to political rivalry with Randeep Singh, someone made a fake passport using my photograph. They are trying to malign the clean image of our family," Walid told police. (IANS)