One arrested for issuing fake e-pass, hunt on for another

A 30-year-old man from Chunabhatti was arrested by Dahisar Police for allegedly making bogus epasses for inter district and inter-state travel. The accused, Vaibhav Dabhekar, accepted payments via an ewallet service and had at least one accomplice who made fake e-passes with the help of Photoshop software. He has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for forgery and cheating.

An officer said that Chunabhatti Police had received information that a man had posted an advertisement on social media offering e-passes for inter district and inter state travel as made mandatory by the Maharashtra Police last month. Acting on this tip-off, they called 30year-old Vaibhav Dabhekar for enquiries and found a few copies of bogus e-passes on his mobile phone. Upon further probe, Dabhekar confessed of providing a fake e-pass to a person living in Dahisar Police's jurisdiction. Accordingly, the office of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 12) was quizzed about an e-pass on May 3, allowing travel of 15 people from Borivali to Akkalkot to Solapur, which upon checking they realised it was rejected due to absence of identity proofs on April 25.

Nitin Tadakhe, police inspector attached to Kasturba Marg police station said, "We rechecked the rejected e-pass and found that the number given on the e-pass application was that of Dabhekar. Subsequently, Dabhekar was brought in for questioning on May 4, wherein he confessed that he had tied up with one Babu Mane from Solapur, who made the bogus e-passes and sent it to him on WhatsApp for a cut."