Singh had lived illegally in the US for the past eight-and-a-half years, working as a taxi driver there, and had come to India to perform the last rites of his father. His wife and children are also in the US, said Chanakyapuri SHO Shukesh Singh.

Narinder Singh had tried to go back last year but was reportedly deported from New York airport after the airport officials discovered that his passport and other documents were forged.

According to the Chanakyapuri police, ``in his third attempt, he changed his name.''

Except the photograph, all information on Singh's passport was false. The accused had changed his name to Harminder Pal Singh. He had changed the names of his father, mother and wife as well as his date ofbirth and residential address.

This time, he hired the services of a Hoshiarpur travel agent who gave him a forged passport for Rs 10,000. The accused appeared for an interview with the US Embassy passport consul under his new name yesterday.

But Singh got caught in his complicated web of lies, prompting the suspicious consul to inform the Chanakyapuri police.

Singh first went abroad in 1988. He reached Germany with the help of forged documents and managed to stay there for a year-and-a-half. From there he went to the United States.

This is the second time in one week that the police have arrested people trying to slip into the US using forged passports. Earlier this week, 13 persons were arrested while applying for visas posing as members of a hockey team invited to ``play'' in the US.

According to SHO Singh, most of those arrested for trying to go illegally the United States come from the villages of Punjab. "Once they get there, they never come back", said Singh.