Mumbra teen Nameera Khan on ATS radar over passport discrepancy

Nineteen-year-old Nameera Tariq Khan, a resident of Mumbra in Mumbai, has come under the scanner of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in a case linked to her passport. During the investigation, another startling detail emerged: her father, Tariq Khan, has been named in cases linked to the Indian Mujahideen and the banned organisation SIMI.

Following the ATS's preliminary investigation, Mumbra police have registered an FIR against Nameera Tariq Khan under Section 12(1)(b) of the Passport Act and Sections 318(2), 212 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Police are now trying to establish links between her old and new passports, her foreign trips, and her possible contact with her absconding father.

According to preliminary findings, Nameera obtained a new passport by giving incomplete information. The ATS found that she already held a passport issued from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Applicants are required to disclose details of an existing passport while applying for a new one, but she is alleged to have concealed her old passport's details to obtain a new one from Mumbra. After this came to light, the ATS began examining details of her old passport and her foreign travel.

The ATS took the case more seriously after her father Tariq Khan's name surfaced in cases linked to the Indian Mujahideen and SIMI. Three cases have been registered against Tariq Khan so far. The first, in 2001, alleged links to the banned SIMI. In 2006 the Mumbai Crime Branch registered a case against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). In 2011 stringent UAPA sections were invoked against him again in a case linked to fake currency.

Tariq Khan has been absconding since 2011, and investigating agencies suspect he is hiding in a Gulf country. The ATS is now examining Nameera's old passport and her foreign travel. She held the Lucknow-issued passport while she was still a minor, and travelled to Gulf countries on it in 2014 and 2016.

Investigating agencies suspect Nameera may have met her absconding father during these trips. The matter remains under investigation, and agencies are examining her foreign travel records and other details.

According to sources, soon after details of Nameera's new passport came to light and the ATS intensified its investigation, her mother Shabana also went missing. The ATS is now investigating possible links between Nameera, her mother Shabana and her absconding father Tariq Khan. Police are also trying to establish why Nameera concealed her old passport's details and the purpose of her foreign travel while obtaining the new passport.