‘Monk’ held for arranging passports for 70 Bangladeshis | Bhopal News
BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh STF has arrested a Buddhist monk accused of playing a key role in a racket in which around 70 Indian passports were allegedly obtained by Bangladeshi nationals on forged documents.Gulab Rai Gautam, alias Samyak Bodhi, a native of Jhansi, was arrested in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, Saturday after evading investigators for days. A reward of Rs 20,000 had been announced for information leading to his arrest.STF sources said Gautam used addresses of Buddhist monasteries for passport applications, acted as a witness on documents meant to establish the applicants’ Indian identities and gave the alleged kingpin, Riyal Chaudhary alias Bhante Maitaanand, access to his SBI account in return for Rs 10,000 a month.According to the investigation, the passports were obtained in Madhya Pradesh using forged documents. Around 50 of them were reportedly issued on the basis of witness verification involving three people, including Gautam.It is also alleged that the account, opened at the Vidisha branch of SBI in 2021-22, carried Chaudhary’s mobile number and was used to route financial transactions linked to the racket.
