Mumbai student 'mutilates' passport to hide Thailand trip, lands in trouble

A 25-year-old fashion merchandising student, SS Ghatol was stopped at Mumbai airport on Thursday while trying to board a flight to Singapore. Police said that immigration officials discovered four missing pages in her passport.

Ghatol, a first-year student, was travelling on a tourist visa to fulfil an internship sponsored by her Worli-based institute. She had mutilated her passport to hide from her institute a trip to Thailand she had undertaken from February 11 to 14. She had then sought exemption from an exam claiming that she was unwell, said a police officer.

Assistant immigration officer Sujit Patil said that Ghatol feared her deception would be discovered when the institute asked her to submit her passport after she was shortlisted for the internship in Singapore.


Ghatol has been charged with cheating and violations under the Passport Act.

(With TOI inputs)