Diu Man Helps Family Members Forge Passports Arrested

Diu police on Friday arrested a man for allegedly forging his and his family members’ passports by making at least one of them assume the identity of a dead Portuguese national.

The arrest came nearly seven months after he was booked for cheating and forgery, and after the Bombay High Court rejected his anticipatory bail application.

The accused, Jitendra Baraiya, (54), who hails from Ghoghla, Diu, made his wife Chandrakala adopt the identity of Shila Sundargi Bica, a Portuguese who died in 1990 at Fudam, Diu. He then changed his own name to Jaykumar Baraiya and assumed Portuguese nationality by forging a marriage certificate showing he was married to a Portuguese national, Bica.

According to the law, anyone living with a Portuguese national for more than three years after judicial recognition of the relationship can become a Portuguese citizen.

The couple had two marriage certificates, one of which was registered in Diu and the other in Gujarat’s Una, police officials said.

The police recovered forged certificates and passports from Baraiya’s house in Mumbai.

Later, he forged the birth certificates of his sister’s three minor children in Diu, and helped his sister and brother-in-law do the same in 2006 and 2007.

Last year in December, the UT police booked Jitendra Baraiya under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 466 (forgery of specific documents – public registers), 468 (forgery committed with intent to cheat), 471 (fraudulent or dishonest use of forged document or electronic record) and 120 (b)

During the course of the investigation, a search was conducted at Baraiya’s Ghoghla house that led to the seizure of blank birth and death certificates and civil registration documents of Gujarat.

Baraiya had filed anticipatory bail applications with the sessions court in Diu and the Bombay High Court. Both applications were rejected, leading to his arrest.

After his arrest, Diu police added Section 12(1)(b) of the Passport Act, 1969, and Section 15(B) of the Registration of Births & Deaths Act, 1967, to the case. He has been remanded to police custody till Tuesday.

Diu deputy superintendent of police Rahul Balara said, “We have arrested Baraiya and seized documents of several people from his possession. We will try to find out who else is involved in the racket. We are also looking for his sister, brother-in-law, and their three children. We are also looking for Jitendra’s wife, who is also absconding.”