Indian Passport for bribe of $100 / रु॰ 5000

Pardon my language but I am pissed! I am pissed at these douchebags who sell their country for money, no matter how small or large is the amount. For me these jerks are no less than the likes of terrorist Mohamed Afzal Guru, terrorist Mohamed Amir Kasab, terrorist SAR Geelani, communal Anti-India Syed Bhukhari, communal Anti-Hindu M Karunanidhi, etc., etc.

Chennai Regional Passport Officer Sumathi Ravichandran along with her husband ran a racket to issue Indian Passport for a bribe of रु॰ 2000-9000. Such corrupt a*s h*les and their next two generations should be barred from holding any public office, irrespective political or apolitical, and they should be sent to darkest jail with hefty fines. Such treacherous people compromise national security in current times when the nation has seen over 45 major terrorist attacks in 5 years. They should be ashamed of themselves and so should be the Government for selecting such traitorous b*stards as bureaucrats who commit such perfidies without thinking about its consequences.

CBI to review all tatkal passports

With the arrest of Chennai Regional Passport Officer Sumathi Ravichandran in connection with a tatkal passport racket, more than 85,000 passports issued under the tatkal scheme during 2008 has come under the scanner of the CBI. Investigators suspect that a considerable number of these tatkal passports might have been issued after receiving bribes from the applicants. The antecedants of some of the applicants will also be probed.

"We have recovered the coded slips issued by Sumathi's husband Dr Ravichandran based on which some tatkal passports were issued. In most of the slips, he has written as "good", "fresh" and "new", which could be code words. We have collected the samples of the hand writing of Ravichandran to compare with the slips we have recovered. These will be sent to forensic department for test," a senior CBI officer said.

Anti-corruption branch of the CBI had on Friday arrested Sumathi for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 9,000 from a passport applicant P Lakshmanan through a tout a travel agent in T Nagar. Her husband R Ravichandran, a health officer in Chennai Corporation, was arrested on Saturday for engaging the touts. The touts Fathima Muzaffar, director of Ahmed World Travels and daughter of former IUML MP Abdul Samad, and Raju, owner of Raja Travels in Triplicane were also arrested.

During the CBI enquiry it had come to light that Ravichandran had taken bribe amounts ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per individual from passport applicants who wanted passports urgently. "We have learnt that around a dozen touts, who were agents of Ravichandran, had frequented the passport office in Shastri Bhavan to get applicantions for tatkal passports processed by Sumathi. We are gathering evidences about them," he added.

Initial investigation has revealed that a Hyundai Accent car that was being used by Sumathi was gifted to her by a travel agent, in whose name the vehicle has been registered. "A travel agent, whom we grilled has claimed that he had paid the membership fee for Sumathi and her husband in a leading corporate club in Egmore. Another agent claimed that he foot the bill for Sumathi's cosmetic makeovers at a beauty parlour in Anna Nagar.

Regional Passport officer, Muslim travel agent arrested

Earlier, searches were conducted at her residence and cash of about Rs 5 lakhs and documents relating to immovable properties worth about Rs 1 crore were seized.

Officials also detected Rs 4lakhs as bank balance and jewelery, the release said, adding that documents relating to several investments in shares, mutual funds, life insurance policies in her name and family members were also recovered.

Regional Passport Officer, husband nabbed

According to an official release from the CBI, P Lakshmanan, a member of an NGO Fact India, had registered a complaint against the RPO for demanding a bribe of Rs. 9,000 which was recovered from the office of Ahmed World Travels in T Nagar whose owner Fathima MuzzafarAhmed was allegedly one of the agents of Sumathi.

The passport application of Lakshmanan was submitted by Fathima at the passport office and was endorsed by the Deputy Passport Officer in Chennai based on “specific instructions” from Sumathi.

The CBI sleuths then laid a trap for Fathima.

Lakshmanan managed to get the passport despite being unable to produce all the necessary documents. He was asked to pay Rs. 12,500 to “speed up” the process. The amount included the Rs.9,000 to be paid to the RPO, Rs. 2,500 to be paid as tatkal passport processing fees and another Rs.1,000 as “services charges” for the travel agency.

Image courtesy: Express Buzz