Fake passport scam: CID probe ordered in Bapu Rao case

Hyderabad, May 12 (UNI) Following the 'shocking' revelations in the fake passport scam during preliminary investigations, the Andhra Pradesh government today ordered a CID inquiry into TRS MLA S Bapu Rao's role in the scam in which the alleged kingpin Rasheed and two Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLAs, including Rao, were already arrested.

Talking to UNI here, City Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh said two cases were registered against the two TRS MLAs, who purportedly obtained fake passports for Gujarati women in the name of their families, and Rasheed.

The CID team would investigate the case registered against TRS MLA S Bapu Rao only.

Stating that the Central Crime Station (CCS) police, investigating the fake passport case have completed their probe, he said only a CID inquiry would be the 'right option to unearth more facts behind the scam'.

The CID team would visit US Embassy in Chennai to gather more information and documentary evidences about the involvement of the accused in the scam. The team would also visit Gujarat from where women were smuggled abroad through the Hyderabad airport with fake passports.

''The CID investigation would disclose more facts in its inter-state probe in the scam,'' he added.

In the confessional statement, Rasheed claimed that TRS MLA K Lingaiah went to the US Consulate in Chennai to get visa for a Gujarati woman on January 22, 2007.

Rasheed surrendered before the CCS police on May 3 after his name figured in the scam following the arrest of BJP MP Babubhai Katara in New Delhi. He was remanded to police custody for further interrogation on May 10.

The two TRS MLAs K Lingaiah and Bapu Rao, who surrendered before the police on April 27 and May 10, respectively, were in judicial custody and lodged in Chenchalguda jail.

UNI