India’s Immigration System Under Strain: Triple Passport Scandals

(INDIA) India’s immigration and identity system is under sharp scrutiny after the exposure of a complex fraud involving a man who allegedly managed to hold three different passports over several years. The so‑called Triple Passport Case, centred on Mumbai businessman Sameer Lakhaani, has raised fresh questions about how long‑running identity scams can slip through official checks despite repeated attempts to tighten rules.

How the alleged scheme unfolded

According to police and immigration officials, the case began with a legitimate Indian passport that Lakhaani is said to have held. In 2008, he attempted to travel to the United Kingdom but was refused a visa. Investigators say that instead of persisting with normal routes, in 2015 he turned to an agent and entered a shadow world of forged identities.

• Officers allege he obtained a fake Indian passport under the name Sameer Mamodia, claiming residency in the Union Territory of Diu and Daman.
• With that identity, he purportedly claimed to be the son of a Portuguese national — a key step used to seek Portuguese citizenship.
• Investigators say the family ties were invented and supported by forged documents.

Using the forged Indian passport and the fabricated family story, Lakhaani reportedly secured a Portuguese passport. With that document he is said to have travelled at least twice between India and the UK as an EU national, which at the time would have eased entry to Britain.

Investigators contend the progression continued:

1. Indian passport (original)
2. Fake Indian passport (as Sameer Mamodia)
3. Portuguese passport (based on forged family links)
4. British passport (after renouncing Portuguese citizenship and obtaining British citizenship)

The alleged sequence only came to light when Lakhaani flew back to Mumbai from London and arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on a Monday night. Immigration officers detained him based on a lookout notice and handed him to local police.

Charges and investigation

• He has been charged under Section 12 of the Passport Act and multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), India’s new criminal code.
• If proven, the charges would demonstrate how a single person allegedly moved across borders, changed identities, and obtained foreign citizenship with limited interference for seven years.
• Investigators are attempting to trace every stage of his alleged identity trail to determine where database checks failed or where officials missed warning signs (reported by VisaVerge.com).

The Triple Passport Case is being treated as an indicator of systemic gaps, not merely an isolated fraud.

Broader patterns and related arrests

Concerns over weak identity checks are not limited to this high‑profile case. A separate investigation at Chennai International Airport led to arrests of three foreign nationals who allegedly obtained Indian passports by using forged identity documents:

• Mohammed Kasim Pathan (41, Bangladesh)
• Sangupillai Sarojini Devi (58, Sri Lanka)
• Dhanraj Pokhriyal (40, Nepal)

Investigators say these individuals used forged documents to secure Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards, and PAN cards, concealing true nationality and personal details. Those Indian identity documents then formed the basis for passport applications, showing a full chain of fraud rather than a single forged paper.

Police allege four Indian nationals acted as facilitators in the Chennai case:

• Bina Das (54, Odisha)
• Ramamurthy (44, Nagapattinam)
• Chennamma (45, Andhra Pradesh)
• Parakatullah (59, Sivaganga)

They are accused of preparing fake files, creating local address proofs, and guiding the foreign nationals through the passport application process. Taken together with the Triple Passport Case, these arrests suggest the existence of organised document‑forgery networks rather than isolated attempts by individual migrants.

Systemic weaknesses identified by experts

Immigration analysts and border‑control specialists highlight several structural weaknesses:

• Reliance on colonial‑era laws such as the Foreigners Act of 1946 and the Passport Act of 1920, which predate modern digital identity and biometric systems.
• Existing legislation and processes are seen as inadequate for detecting layered, cross‑border scams and sophisticated forgery networks.

Potential consequences of weak checks:

• Damage to border security and to the rights of genuine travellers and workers.
• Reactive tightening of rules leading to more intrusive checks, which can slow processing for millions of legitimate applicants.
• Legitimate applicants for Portuguese citizenship (for example, those with Goan or Daman ancestry) may face heavier scrutiny because of frauds such as the Lakhaani case.

Legal and policy responses

To address perceived gaps, the government passed the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, which received presidential assent on 4 April 2025. Key features of the new law include:

• Digital tracking
• Biometric verification
• Creation of a centralised Bureau of Immigration

Supporters argue these tools, if fully implemented, will make it harder for someone to hold multiple passports under different identities and will allow better cross‑database pattern recognition to spot suspicious behaviour earlier.

Critics’ concerns

• Centralisation can introduce new risks: bottlenecks, visa backlogs, and data‑management errors.
• Past problems with India’s Aadhaar system and long visa queues in other countries are cited as cautionary examples.
• A centralised Bureau of Immigration could potentially slow down decisions or make errors harder to correct once data is consolidated.

Operational steps under consideration

Officials say procedures at major airports and passport offices are being reviewed. Measures under discussion include:

• Stronger use of biometric checks
• Better sharing of watchlists with foreign partners
• More careful review of applications coming from high‑risk regions or agents

The government’s existing immigration rules and updates are published through official channels such as the Bureau of Immigration, which also provides general information on visas and entry rules.

Current status and implications

• The Triple Passport Case is moving through the legal system as investigators work to link each stage of Sameer Lakhaani’s alleged journey from Indian identity to forged identity, to Portuguese citizenship, and finally to British nationality.
• Regardless of the final court outcome, the case has become a reference point in debates about updating India’s immigration controls for an era of fast travel, inexpensive forgery tools, and transnational identity networks.

Key takeaway: The Lakhaani case underscores both the vulnerabilities in legacy systems and the trade‑offs involved in centralised, technology‑driven reforms — greater detection capability on one hand, and potential for new bottlenecks or errors on the other.