5 youths, stationery shop owner held for selling fake passes of Borivli garba event

Mumbai: Five youngsters and a stationery shop owner were arrested in connection with making and selling fake entry passes for ‘Rang Raas with Bhoomi Trivedi', a popular garba event in Borivli. One individual is wanted in the case. Police stated that at least 600 fake passes were made by the accused, cheating the organisers of Rs 6 lakh.
Last year, four fake garba pass scams were reported in North Mumbai during Navratri and 11 people were arrested.
‘Rang Raas with Bhoomi Trivedi' is organised from Oct 3 to 12 by BJP politicians Pravin Darekar and Prakash Darekar at Chikoowadi, Borivli. Entry passes for the event are available on an online booking portal at Rs 1,000 each.
The scam came to light a few days ago when some of the visitors were unable to scan the QR code on their passes for entry. On suspicion, the event management team examined these passes. They found a few discrepancies in colour, paper quality, cut, and QR codes. Volunteers at the entry gate were then alerted to check all entry passes thoroughly.
On Oct 7, one of the visitors at the garba informed the event management team that entry passes were being sold in parts of Kandivli West illegally. The event management team found out the phone number of the youngster selling the passes, Ansh Naagar, and met him.
Police said Naagar, 20, admitted the passes were fake. He also gave the names of his aides—Bhavya Makwana, 19, Prem Chavda, 19, Raj Makwana, 19, Yash Mehta, 19, and Keyur Nyayi. Police said the accused got 600 fake passes made and sold 450 of them. Apart from Prem, the rest have been arrested.
"The fake passes were being sold at Rs 400 each," the event manager told TOI.
The accused told the police that the fake passes were prepared at a stationery store inside a Kandivli-based shopping centre. The shop owner, Manoj Chavda, 19, was also arrested after evidence (three files) was found on his computer.
Police said the stationery shop churned out over half of the fake passes with QR codes and the rest without any. "Some of the passes have ‘Complimentary, not for sale' printed on them. We appeal to visitors to only purchase passes from our verified online booking portal," said the event manager.
The event management team has requested the police to probe whether any more fake passes had been prepared and sold by the accused.