Harikesh Patel, the son of Gujarat Mahila Congress President Geeta Patel, has been arrested in a fake passport case by the Gujarat ATS.
According to the Gujarat ATS, Patel, a resident of Shahibaug in Ahmedabad, was in possession of Indian passport. The passport had earlier been surrendered before a court in connection with a criminal case.
Despite this, Patel allegedly obtained another Indian passport, from a passport office outside Gujarat by furnishing a false address in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.
Harikesh Patel, accused
During the investigation, the ATS found that Patel had allegedly concealed the fact that his original passport had been deposited with the court and obtained a second passport on the basis of false information and allegedly fabricated documents.
Gujarat ATS Superintendent of Police (SP) K Siddharth said that Patel used forged rental agreements showing addresses in Delhi and Agra, and also got an Aadhaar card reflecting a false address in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.
On the basis of these documents, passport No. C0538007 was issued by the Ghaziabad Regional Passport Office on 26 July 2024.
Patel’s political associations
Patel’s political background also places him in the orbit of Gujarat’s Patidar quota. He was a former key functionary of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) and was associated with the quota movement led by Hardik Patel, who is now a BJP MLA in Gujarat.
Harikesh’s mother Geeta Patel
Patel is also the son of Geeta Patel, a prominent Ahmedabad Congress worker and the Gujarat Mahila Congress president.
International travel through fake passport
The ATS also found that Patel allegedly used the second passport to travel internationally. SP Sidharth saidthat Patel travelled via Bhutan to Bangkok, Singapore and Dubai, and subsequently returned to India through Nepal.
He had been using the passport obtained on the basis of the allegedly false documents for movement within India as well as travel abroad, he added.
ED Power Bank case
The ATS investigation further found that Patel’s original passport had been deposited with the court during proceedings linked to an Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into the Power Bank app money-laundering case.
K Siddharth, SP, Gujarat ATS
After his anticipatory bail plea was rejected, Patel approached the High Court, the ATS said. During this period, he allegedly lodged a false complaint with the Delhi Crime Branch claiming that his passport had been lost. According to the ATS, the complaint was allegedly made with the intention of avoiding arrest and facilitating travel abroad.
The schemes inthe scam allegedly attracted users by promising unusually high returns on investments. In 2021, the Power Bank app reportedly attracted more than five million users by promising that investments could be doubled quickly or generate daily returns of up to 18%. ED estimated that around ₹342 crore was collected within a few months before the app became defunct.
The Gujarat ATS has registered a case against Harikhesh Patel, invoking Sections 336(2), 337, 338, 339 and 340 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, along with Section 12(1)(b) of the Passports Act, 1967. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
