Passport verification: Resident of Sanjay Nagar, Bengaluru hassled
Sunil Tattimani from Sanjay Nagar had an unforgettable Sunday on April 17, 2016. He was asked to pay a visit to the Sanjay Nagar Police Station get done with the verification of his two-and a half- year old son’s passport. Ideally, a police officer from the concerned station should have come to his house and verified the details.
Sunil, a Manager in Zeomega recalls a man going by the name Murthy who seemed nothing more than a police constable, calling him in the evening and asking him to come for verification. According to Sunil, it was his job to personally visit and verify passports of applicants in their home address. “Murthy created a lot of trouble by asking us to roam around and fetch documents for verification,” Sunil told I Paid A Bribe.
Initially, while intimating Sunil through a phone call, Murthy only specified him to bring a Government ID proof, address proof and a photo of the child. On reaching the station, Murthy said he needed the photocopy of passports of parents. “Since our home was close by, we managed to get them. Soon after that, this officer said he needed the birth certificate of the child,” Sunil claimed. Soon after, Sunil demanded Murthy to clearly state all the documents required at one shot instead of making the couple loiter around multiple times but that was not complied to by the Policeman.
As the last straw, Murthy instructed Sunil to tell the police Sub- Inspector of the station that it was Murthy who personally came to their house and verified the credentials. Sunil claims that he was not afraid of admitting the truth of Murthy’s unprofessional conduct to the Sub- Inspector but for some reason the Sub- Inspector did not even question him about that. The foray of verification concluded with Murthy openly asking for money from Sunil. “I took out a Rs. 100 note from my wallet and he said it was not enough. I had spent almost Rs. 3,000 for the entire passport application To top it, I had to bribe a cop with Rs. 200 just for him to do his job.”, said a frustrated Sunil to I Paid A Bribe.
- By Aruna Krishnan