Patel said he had gone to the US on work permit visa in June last year and was arrested at the airport. “An officer looked at my passport and asked me to wait in a room. I was accompanied by a police officer who remained with me for about half-an-hour. A few other US Police officers came to the room and interrogated me about the passport. I told them everything, how I got the passport and visa after striking a deal of Rs 25 lakh with the travel agent,” Patel told the Crime Branch officials.

Patel was arrested by the US Police for possessing fake documents and was kept in jail for seven months till his deportation formalities were completed with the Indian authorities. The local Regional Passport Office (RPO) then received a communication from Delhi about a person being deported to India. The RPO swung into action and passed on the information to the Crime Branch which is investigating the stolen passport case.

The police officials said they have identified the travel agent in Ahmedabad and have spoken with the Gujarat Police to arrest him. The travel agent is said to be associated with Gurjinder Singh alias Lucky who was arrested by the Crime Branch in October last year.

He allegedly stole 48 passports from the RPO after conniving with some local officials. Investigations revealed Lucky and his accomplices would charge an average of Rs 9.5 lakh from an aspirant willing to go abroad for arranging a passport, visa and other relevant papers. Lucky’s cousin Bhupinder Singh, who lived in Belgium, was arrested on September 30 last year.