Pune Man Held at Mumbai Airport for Tearing Passport Pages to Hide Bangkok Trips
Pune Man Held at Mumbai Airport for Tearing Passport Pages to Hide Bangkok Trips
Pune | April 15, 2025 — A 51-year-old man from Pune was intercepted at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai after immigration officials discovered torn pages in his passport, allegedly removed to conceal past visits to Bangkok from his family.
The passenger, identified as V.K. Bhalerao, was detained during routine immigration checks in the early hours of Monday. Officials noticed that pages 17/18 and 21–26 of his passport were missing—pages that reportedly contained immigration stamps from earlier trips to Thailand.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), Bhalerao had arrived in India from Indonesia via Vietnam. Rajiv Ranjan Kumar, the immigration officer who filed the complaint, flagged the irregularity when Bhalerao presented his travel documents at the counter. Upon questioning, Bhalerao initially withheld the reason but later admitted to tearing out the pages nearly a year ago to hide his Bangkok visits from his family.
Damaging a passport is a serious offense under Indian law. Bhalerao has been booked under Section 12 of the Passports Act, 1967, which pertains to willful damage to a passport, and Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), related to fraudulent intent to deceive. A formal complaint has been lodged with the Sahar Police Station, and further investigation is underway.
Immigration authorities have called the act a serious breach of travel documentation norms and emphasized that tampering with official documents can lead to severe legal consequences.
