Second instance of mistaken identity at airport
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Chennai: In an embarrassing second case of mistaken identity during the ‘execution’ of look-out circulars (LOCs) in the last four months, immigration officials at the Chennai airport detained Kuber Saravanan, instead of Kuber Venkatesh, a suspect wanted in a case of group clash. In the earlier case, immigration authorities had jailed a wrong woman from Kerala in November last year, based on an LOC, and she had to go to court to prove her identity. In the latest case, the mistaken identity was detected before the ‘suspect’ was sent to jail.
The immigration team picked up Kuber, 35, when he reached the airport to fly by the 9.45 pm flight to Dubai on Thursday as per the LOC. After the ‘suspect’ was detained, immigration officials informed the Kancheepuram police who had issued the LOC. On Friday morning, after the details were handed over to the police, the investigators noticed that immigration officials had detained the wrong man.
“We were looking out for Kuber Venkatesh, 29, a construction worker from Thiruparuthikundram. He had no passport. We had issued a LOC to make sure that he does not escape abroad after getting a passport. But the detained man is from Vishar and a rich farmer on a business trip to Dubai. The only similarity is in the name. We cross-checked his background, found that he was not the suspect and let him go on Friday,” police sources said.
Kuber Venkatesh, wanted for a clash and damaging properties in 2011, is still absconding.In the earlier case, the Chennai airport immigration officials had detained Sarah Thomas on her arrival from Dubai, despite her telling them that she was not Sara Williams, the woman wanted by the Kerala police for cheating.
She was lodged in Chennai prison and then taken to Kerala. It took four days for the police to realise that it was a case of identity mix-up and Sarah was released from prison. She later approached the Madras high court against her illegal detention after which the court had pulled up the immigration officials.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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