Four held in Kakinada for forging, selling emergency vehicle passes during lockdown

Kakinada: The Kakinada police of East Godavari district arrested four persons for forging emergency vehicle passes used for inter-state travel during the COVID-19 lockdown. The four men have been identified as T. Yadidya Kumar, A. Dileep, V. Anil, and S. Venkata Ramana.

According to the police, Kumar had obtained an original copy of the COVID-19 emergency vehicle pass issued by the East Godavari police. He scanned the original pass and made 22 copies of the same. He also forged the signature of the superintendent of police of East Godavari and other police officers. The fake passes stated that Dileep and Anil were drivers of the vehicles. Kumar then sold the fake emergency passes to people who needed them.

During a routine vehicular check, the police were verifying the emergency vehicle passes when they had some doubts over the authenticity of one pass. They sent the pass to the special branch for verification. They found that the pass was fake and was issued by Kumar and his associates by forging documents and the signature of police officers.

The police arrested Kumar and his associates. They had forged 22 emergency travel passes for Rajahmundry to Odisha and also from East Godavari to other states. The police seized the computer and other devices used to make the fake passes.