New Delhi, Nov 21 (IANS): The mysterious journey of Apu Barua, a 26-year-old Bangladeshi national, took an unexpected turn when he was apprehended in Germany after successfully deceiving immigration authorities in multiple countries over the past two years.

Barua's odyssey began when he illegally entered India, recognizing the challenge authorities would face in locating him within the vast expanse of the country. Over the following months, he managed to outwit immigration officials in various nations, creating a complex web of false identities.

Law enforcement officials revealed that Barua orchestrated a series of identity changes to escape India and settle in a European country. Starting as a Bangladeshi national, he transitioned to an Indian identity before adopting the persona of a Buddhist monk.

The entire sequence unravelled after one Indian male passenger, namely Anik Roy, on the intervening night of November 18-19, arrived as a deportee from Germany at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. It was in Germany where the fraud was first detected, said officials.

“During questioning of the pax it was revealed that the pax is a Bangladeshi national and his name is Apu Baruam, a resident of Chittagong and Bangladesh National. It was further revealed during questioning that on August 11, 2021 the pax arrived from Bangladesh by illegally after crossing the Indo-Bangladesh border from Matiranga (Bangladesh) to Sabroom (Tripura, India),” stated the FIR, accessed by IANS.

After arriving in India, for initial four to five days he stayed in a hotel near the IGM hospital, Agartala where he procured one birth certificate (issued by IGM Hospital, Agartala), Aadhaar card and Pan card with the help of an agent, who charged Rs 6,500 for all the aforementioned documents.

“On August 16, 2021 he left for Pune, Maharashtra via Kolkata where he started working in a hotel and later as a Security Guard in a Society Mondwua, Shivajinagar. With the help of one local, namely Hussian, he changed his Aadhaar card address from Tripura to Maharashtra and applied for the Passport,” the FIR stated.

“Since he is a Bangladeshi Chakma tribal who follows Buddhism, he decided to impersonate as a Buddhist monk to leave for an European country and settle there. He got himself registered with a Gompa association and took chiver (monk attire). He travelled to Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam to create travel history,” stated the FIR.

“Finally he forged a membership letter of a respected Buddhist Gompa (association) and used it to procure an offer letter from the Spain Buddhist association and obtained a Schengen visa,” the FIR further stated.

“As the pax is Bangladeshi with fake Indian documents, a criminal case of cheating by producing false documents as genuine and defrauding government authorities for procuring Indian Passport and immigrating from India may please be registered against him,” the FIR further stated.

A senior police official said that Barua has been booked under sections 420, 468, 471 of the Indian Penal Code, 12 Passport Act and 14 Foreigner Act and further probe is going on.