Student tears off passport pages to hide Thailand trip from college, caught at Mumbai airport

Four pages were missing from the student's passport. (Representational)

A 25-year-old student was detained last Thursday at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Singapore after four missing pages in her passport were noticed by immigration officials. The student, identified as SS Ghatol, was detained for tampering with her passport.

Ghatol, a first-year fashion merchandising student, was on her way to Singapore on a tourist visa for an internship sponsored by her Worli-based institute. However, her travel plans came to an abrupt halt when officials noticed the irregularity during routine checks.

According to reports, Ghatol had allegedly removed the pages from her passport to hide a trip she took to Thailand earlier this year, between February 11 and 14. The motive behind this drastic action was her desire to conceal the unauthorised trip from her institute. She had reportedly faked an illness to secure an exemption from an exam during that period.

Assistant Immigration Officer Sujit Patil told Times of India that the student's fear of her dishonesty being exposed led her to tear the pages off her passport.

The student now faces charges of cheating and violations under the Passport Act.

Months ago, a 24-year-old man impersonating a senior citizen bound for Canada was detained by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. Guru Sewak Singh had dyed his hair and beard white and donned spectacles to appear significantly older. He presented a passport under the name Rashvindar Singh Sahota, which claimed he was 67.