Ahmedabad: A 16-year-old love story that led a Hindu man to adopt a new name and religion has now resulted in a criminal case after an old passport exposed his dual identity during a routine passport verification.The Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) booked a 38-year-old man on charges of forgery and cheating after investigators found that he had allegedly obtained multiple identity documents in a new name without following the legal procedure for changing his identity.The case surfaced when the man applied for a fresh passport in Ahmedabad under the name Abdul Rehman Khan but enclosed his expired passport issued in Lucknow in the name of Yogendra Kumar Maurya. The mismatch immediately raised red flags during verification.According to the FIR, Maurya told police he fell in love with Khushnuma Banu, a Muslim woman from his village in Uttar Pradesh, about 16 years ago. The couple allegedly eloped against their families’ wishes, married according to Hindu rituals at an Arya Samaj temple in 2012 and later solemnised a nikah, where he signed the marriage documents as Abdul Rehman Khan.Police said the family shifted to Ahmedabad in 2018 and Maurya found work at a furniture shop in the Danilimda area while living with his wife and three sons.During questioning, investigators alleged that Maurya admitted purchasing a PAN card in the name of Abdul Rehman Khan from an unidentified person near Jamalpur bridge for Rs 400. Using that PAN card, he allegedly obtained an Aadhaar card, voter ID and ration card in the same name before applying for a fresh passport.Police found no official record showing that he had legally changed either his name or religion through the prescribed govt process.Interestingly, investigators said the alleged fraud came to light only because Maurya himself submitted his old passport along with the fresh application.“His intention was not malafide. He changed his name and faith because he loved a Muslim woman from his village. His old passport in his original Hindu name had expired in 2020. When he applied for a new passport, he enclosed the old one, which exposed the discrepancy,” said police inspector C B Chauhan.The DCB has registered a case under provisions of the BNS relating to forgery, use of forged documents and cheating, along with Section 12 of the Passports Act.Investigators are now probing how the identity documents were issued without proper verification and are trying to trace the person who allegedly arranged the PAN card.
