The Kumbakonam East Police have arrested two persons on Sunday on charges of preparing and using counterfeit ‘e-pass’ to help people travel from Chennai to Thanjavur district.
According to police, the District Administration received a letter from Senguttuvan of Kumbakonam last week where Senguttuvan wondered how come a tourist operator at Thiruvidaimaruthur was able to get an ‘e-pass’ with ease while his own application remained unattended.
In his letter, Senguttuvan stated that he had applied for an ‘e-pass’ to bring one of his relative from Chennai to Kumbakonam a fortnight ago. As his application was not cleared, his friends suggested him to contact a tourist operator at Thiruvidaimaruthur to get things done.
Subsequently, Senguttuvan approached the tourist operator, Nagaraj of Thiruvidaimaruthur and paid ₹5,000 in cash along with a photo copy of his Aadhaar card . A day later, Nagaraj took Senguttuvan in his vehicle with the ‘e-pass’ issued in the name of Senguttuvan and brought his relative to Kumbakonam. When Senguttuvan checked the status of his application last week it still remained ‘under process’. Thus annoyed by the development, Senguttuvan wrote a letter to the district administration wanting to know how the tourist operator was able to get the ‘e-pass’ with ease while his original application was still pending with the officials.
Stunned by the letter, the district administration forwarded the letter to the police and on investigation it was found that Nagaraj had prepared a fake ‘e-pass’ with the help of his friend, Arivazhagan of Kumbakonam. Further, Nagaraj had reportedly helped more than 50 persons from Chennai to reach their native places in Thanjavur district by preparing fake ‘e-passes’. Both Nagaraj and Arivazhagan were arrested on Sunday and remanded to judicial custody, police said.
