Gang making fake curfew passes busted in Punjab, 9 arrested

The Punjab Police on Friday claimed to have busted a gang allegedly involved in making fake curfew passes in the state's Hoshiarpur district for stranded migrant labourers and arrested nine people in this connection. The gang has already transported 71 migrant labourers to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for a total of Rs 3.5 lakh, the police said.

The gang was busted after it came to the notice of the Hoshiarpur police that some people were using fake curfew passes for crossing the border from Punjab to Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta said. Nine members of the gang have been arrested and cases registered against them at the Tanda police station in Hoshiarpur, he said, adding that one member of the gang is absconding.

Gupta said five fake curfew passes, a stamp of the sub-divisional magistrate of Tanda, a computer, a CPU, a printer and six mobile phones have been seized from the accused. They charged approximately Rs 60,000 for a mini truck and Rs 30,000 for a car to ferry migrants using the forged passes, he said.

Of the 71 labourers transported out of Punjab so far with the help of fake curfew passes, 13 were sent in a truck, 20 each in two mini trucks and six each in three cars, he added. The vehicles carrying migrants had already made four rounds since April 12 to Gonda district of Bihar, and Lucknow and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, the police said.

The Punjab government has imposed a curfew in the state to control the spread of coronavirus. The curfew will last till May 3, which will also be the last day of a nationwide lockdown announced by the Centre.