The fake passport case centred around Avaniyapuram Police Station in Madurai City took a new turn on Sunday with K Annamalai, the Tamil Nadu BJP chief, submitting a memorandum to R N Ravi, Governor, to order a probe into the issue either by the Central Bureau of Investigation or the National Investigation Agency as many top police officers in the State were involved in in.
Annamalai, himself a former officer of the Indian Police Service who left his uniform to join politics, writing to Governor Ravi, a former IPS officer and an expert in intelligence affairs, has shocked the political establishment in the State.
“We were given to understand that more than 200 fake passports were issued from Madurai during the period in which Davidson Devaasirvatham was the city commissioner. Recently a Bangladeshi national was held carrying a fake passport in Chennai,” Annamalai said in his memorandum to the Governor, a copy of which has been accessed by The Pioneer.
Annamalai pointed out that the first instance of fake passport issued from Madurai City Aavaniyapuram Police Station came to light on June 28th, 2019, when a 41-year old Sri Lankan national was arrested for trying to board a flight to Sri Lanka using a passport obtained by producing fake documents. “A case was registered against him and it came to light that he had obtained the passportillegally and had been residing in Madurai,” writes Annamalai.
Out of the fake passports seized during 2019 and 2020, a total of 53 passports were issued by a single police station (Avaniyapuram P S). “During such fake issuances Ilavarasu was the inspector of police, Dharmalingam was the inspector of police (intelligence), Siva Kumar was ACP, Intelligence and Davidson Devaasirvatham was the commissioner of police, Madurai City. It is important to note that the inspectors of police and the ACP have a role in the police verification process,” Annamalai has written.