The Hyderabad police are looking for a travel agent, Rasheed, whose name has come up in the Babubhai Katara case. Police have arrested one of his aides for questioning. In fact, Rasheed’s name has come up in other fake passport cases as well.

Rasheed had earlier been arrested by the city police in 2003 under the Passport Act. He was picked up by the Central Crime Station (CCS) and a case was registered in Saifabad Police Station. The case is pending in court but he and his accomplice, Prakash Reddy, were released on bail in the case. ACP Saifabad Umamaheshwar Rao said, “The CCS picked him up on credible information, and brought him here. Passport papers, rubber stamps and documents were recovered from his house.”

CCS officers once again picked up Prakash Reddy on Friday. According to sources, police are also looking for one Shakeel, who is suspected to be a bigger player in the passport racket. Sources said Shakeel is related to a state minister and a close friend of one Dileep Kumar Ghanati who is an aide of suspended TRS MP A Narendra. Officials, however, rejected Narendra’s involvement.

Both Rasheed and Shakeel are residents of the old city in Hyderabad. Rasheed house has been locked since Katara’s arrest in Delhi.

Police are also looking for another travel agent, Maqbool Ahmed, and his aide Khalid. Delhi Police, on a visit to the city recently, had raided his travel agency, Cloud Nine travels in Saifabad. Some documents were recovered from there. Middleman Rajendra Kumar Gampa told the police that this was one of the agencies from where tickets were booked.

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