2 held for selling forged Delhi assembly ID cards

Fifteen years after Kashmir terrorists used a fake home ministry car sticker to sneak in and mount the attack on Parliament House, two persons have been arrested here for allegedly selling forged identity cards and parking passes of the Delhi assembly for over seven years, police said on Friday.

Vinod Bansal and Jitender Kumar were arrested from different locations in the city during separate searches conducted by Delhi Police Crime Branch on Monday. Bansal worked as a newsreporter once and has been running the racket for the past seven years, police said.

Bansal was arrested from Rohini area while striking a 'deal' with a decoy customer to sell him forged identity cards and parking passes of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly) for Rs 10,000.

The raiding team later arrested Jitender Kumar, who worked as a driver of Delhi assembly's former Deputy Secretary Lal Mani, from his home in Burari area after Bansal revealed his name as one of his associates.

"Bansal would pose as a reporter of a news channel or employee of the Delhi assembly and sell forged I-cards and parking passes or stickers to people for handsome amounts. He would sign on these I-cards and parking passes and used forged Delhi Vidhan Sabha stamp," Joint Commissioner of Police Ravindra Yadav said.

Bansal disclosed to the police that he procured these I-cards and VIP passes or stickers from former Deputy Secretary Lal Mani, and that after his transfer he had started purchasing these from Lal Mani's driver Jitender Kumar.

Lal Mani worked at the Delhi assembly from 1982 to July 2015 when he was transferred out of the office.

Jitender Kumar told the police he procured the stickers or passes and I-cards from a Delhi Vidhan Sabha employee called Khatri, who is now missing and on the run.

"The accused persons in order to earn huge money in a small span of time used to procure or purchase blank I-cards and VIP passes or stickers from the officials of Vidhan Sabha and used to sell these to various people for huge amounts" Yadav said.

Police said Bansal, who was born and brought up in Delhi, has worked as a reporter and for the last seven years he has been involved in the illegal business of selling forged I-cards and parking passes of the Delhi assembly. He was in touch with Kumar since 2011.

"Several blank I-cards, parking passes or stickers of Delhi assembly, and two Wagon-R cars with forged stickers of MLA and parking stickers of Delhi legislative assembly were recovered from the possession of the accused," Yadav said.

"One of the cars was stolen from Bhajanpura (east Delhi). Forged stamps marked Vidhan Sabha were also recovered from them," he added.

--IANS

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