Maharashtra Police have arrested a woman from a luxury hotel in Sambhajinagar for allegedly living there for six months using a forged Aadhaar card and a fake IAS appointment letter, with the investigation now revealing possible links to the Delhi blast.
The woman, identified as Kalpana Tryambakrao Bhagwat (45), is now suspected of attempting to secure an Indian visa for a woman from Uzbekistan, while police are also probing a possible link to the Delhi blast, as her presence in the capital around the time of the explosion is under scrutiny.
CIDCO Police investigators revealed that Bhagwat was actively trying to facilitate visas for foreign nationals, raising suspicions that she may have been using fake identities to aid cross-border movement and extend her influence.
She was arrested from the upscale hotel where she had been staying. Presenting the case in court while seeking her custody, police stated that determining whether she poses a threat to national security is now a key focus of their investigation.
During the search of her hotel room, police found a fake 2017 IAS appointment letter and detected irregularities in her Aadhaar card. Investigators also discovered large financial transfers into her bank account from accounts belonging to Ashraf Khalil, her partner from Afghanistan, and his brother Awed Khalil, who is based in Pakistan. Police recovered two cheques from her room, one reportedly worth Rs 19 crore and another for Rs 6 lakh.
In court, the police said Bhagwat possessed 11 international phone numbers, some registered in Afghanistan and Peshawar. Senior officers also revealed that she had been attempting to obtain visas not only for a woman from Uzbekistan but also for Awed Khalil and Ashraf Ali, who had been deported from Afghanistan.
A forensic examination of her seized mobile phone uncovered several fake photographs showing her posing with prominent political leaders across India. Investigators also found contact numbers linked to Pakistani military officials, the Peshawar Army Cantonment Board, and the Afghanistan Embassy. One number saved as “OSD to Home Minister” was also recovered. Police further disclosed that her WhatsApp chats with an individual in Pakistan had been deleted.
For the past three days, two Intelligence Bureau officers have been questioning her. Though several seized documents list her name as Kalpana Bhagwat, police say her true identity remains unverified, and they are investigating whether the name itself is part of a fabricated identity trail.
Bhagwat was initially arrested for staying in a CIDCO-based star hotel for around six months using forged documents. After her first three-day custody, she was produced before the court on Wednesday, where her remand was extended as investigations expand across multiple states and international links.
