Mumbai, March 18: Terrorists and gangsters have been known to use aliases to evade the law. But now, two have used the ‘official’ route to acquire new identities by changing names — a comparatively easy process in the country.
The two terror suspects arrested by the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) in the city on Saturday at the Matunga railway station changed their names through an official government gazette to avoid being detected.
“They had applied for fresh passports on the basis of their new identity. They were planning to travel to Pakistan,” an ATS officer told. Abdul Latif Abdul Rashid Shaikh, alias Guddu, 29, changed his name to SA Shaikh and his brother-in-law, Riyaz Ali Abu Bakar Shaikh, alias Riyan, 22, changed his to Rashid Imtiaz.
“Both claimed to be residents of Gujarat. We are interrogating them to get more details,” said another ATS officer.
The fact came to the fore when ATS officers were scanning the two men’s passport application details.
The ploy has the police worried since “there will be no records on a terror suspect and tracking him will become extremely difficult,” a senior officer said. “The government should consider re-looking at the procedure for name change. Even the procedure for issuing passports to people who change their names should be made more stringent.”
Legal experts say that, in a city like Mumbai, it is easy to camouflage oneself with a new identity since the procedure to change one’s identity is not difficult. But they also point out that it is merely a hurdle to the intelligence agencies. “When an individual changes his name through the government gazette, he has to provide all details regarding his previous identity, including name, address and other antecedents. If the police want they can trace the person’s original identity by scrutinising his records and eventually tracing his past,” said Ashish Chavan, senior lawyer.
Name changing
The procedure to change one’s name is extremely easy in India. The form is available free at the government press in any city and no documents are required to be submitted along with it.
After the form is submitted, it takes a month for an advertisement bearing the change of name to appear in the state government’s gazette. Following this, an advertisement needs to be published in a local newspaper announcing the name change
–Agencies–