A 37-year-old man from Pardi, Valsad, has been accused of using his deceased cousin’s identity to get Portuguese citizenship. The incident was reported to Gujarat University police by Ishita Thakkar, an immigration officer at the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) on Ishwar Bhuvan Road, on Tuesday. The applicant submitted a cancelled Indian passport along with his Portuguese passport, but discrepancies in birth details and previous records raised suspicion. When called for biometric verification, the applicant provided responses that did not match the records. Upon further questioning, he revealed that his actual name was Karan Jayanti Tandel, a resident of Daman. Officials discovered that he previously held an Indian passport under this name, which expired. A case of forgery was registered with the Gujarat UniversityPolice under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with charges of the Passport Act. The case was escalated to senior officials, leading to a formal complaint.
