5 held for ferrying migrants in vehicles with forged e-passes

Delhi police said on Wednesday they have arrested five people for allegedly ferrying migrant workers to Bihar in two tempo-travellers using forged e-passes.

They said the e-passes were issued to a person in Panipat in Haryana.

The vehicles were intercepted in Bawana area on Monday night and 24 migrant labourers, destined for Muzaffarpur, were detained, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer-North) Gaurav Sharma said.

"The drivers showed e-passes issued by the district magistrate of Panipat. On inquiry, all migrants said they were the residents of Bawana, which created suspicion. Police scanned the QR codes on the passes but it could not be read," Sharma said.

When the QR code was finally scanned, it came to light that the e-pass was issued to a Panipat resident for a marriage function. The other e-pass was also forged, police said.

The accused have been identified as Namnu Prasad (28), Rakesh Mohan (42) , both residents of Uttam Nagar; Krishan Mohan (45), Mohit Nagpal (33), both residents of Bawana; and Shankar Choudhary (45), a resident of Ghoga Dairy, they said.

Nagpal runs a grocery shop in Bawana and he duped the labourers who purchased groceries from his shop that he can arrange a transport home for them during the lockdown.

The others joined him and charged each labourer Rs 5,200 for the journey, Sharma said.