Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squadron (ATS) on September 12 arrested Harikesh Patel, son of Gujarat Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee president Geetaben Patel, in a case involving fake passports. The Gujarat High Court subsequently sent him to six-day judicial custody on September 13.
The case came to light during the pendency of a money laundering investigation handled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). While proceedings were underway, Harikesh Patel submitted his original Indian passport to the court as part of the legal process. Shortly after, he filed a false complaint stating that the passport had gone missing.
Using this fabricated claim of loss, he proceeded to obtain a second passport from the Uttar Pradesh regional passport office by submitting forged documents. Investigators discovered that the new passport contained materially false information and was obtained through deliberate deception, constituting a serious offense under Indian law.
The ED, which is actively pursuing the underlying money laundering case, has taken possession of the original passport submitted earlier. The fake passport procured through fraudulent means in Uttar Pradesh has also been recovered. Authorities are now examining whether any officials at the passport issuance centre facilitated the illegal production of the document.
Harikesh Patel's arrest has drawn significant political attention given his mother's prominent position in the Gujarat Congress. The ATS is continuing its probe into the full scope of the forgery network, including potential accomplices who may have assisted in creating or certifying the counterfeit papers.
Legal sources confirm that further investigation is expected to uncover additional links in the chain of document fabrication, and officials have not ruled out extending the probe to other individuals connected to the scheme.
