Rajkot: Diu Police have unearthed an alleged identity fraud stretching back more than three decades, arresting a 54-year-old man accused of using the identity of a deceased Portuguese national to secure nationality documents, alter birth records and facilitate multiple passport applications.Investigators say the racket may have wider links across Gujarat and beyond.Diu Police arrested Jitendrakumar Parbat Baraiya (54), a resident of Ghoghla, in connection with an alleged racket involving fake Indian and Portuguese passports, identity theft and forged civil documents.After his arrest on Friday, a court remanded Baraiya to four days of police custody.A case was first registered against him in 2025 for cheating, forgery of a public register, conspiracy and related offences along with Section 15(B) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act.Investigators said the fraud centred on the identity of Shila Sundargi Bica, a Portuguese national by birth who died in Fudam, Diu, in 1990. Police said Baraiya and his wife fraudulently used the deceased woman’s identity documents, enabling his wife, originally named Chandrakala Laljibhai, to assume Bica’s identity and illegally obtain Portuguese nationality.Diu deputy superintendent of police Rahul Balhara told TOI, “We discovered that the accused made illegal alterations to the 1990 death register and registered multiple marriages in Diu and Una using the stolen identity.”Police are also investigating who helped Baraiya allegedly tamper with the 1990 death register.Investigators said Baraiya registered his second marriage in Una using his wife’s assumed identity as Shila Sundargi Bica. After the marriage registration, the couple altered the birth certificates of their three children by replacing their mother’s original name with that of the deceased Portuguese national.The forgery extended beyond Baraiya’s immediate family. Investigators say he altered the birth certificates of his sister’s minor children in 2006 and 2007 to help his sister and brother-in-law illegally obtain Portuguese nationality.A second FIR registered against Baraiya on Jan 20, 2026, alleges that he repeatedly registered births at different locations to obtain multiple passports. During the investigation, police also found that Baraiya had allegedly acquired Portuguese nationality under the name Jaykumar Baraiya.BOXDocuments seized during raidsPolice had raided Baraiya’s residence in Ghoghla, Diu, as well as premises in Mumbai. The raids led to the seizure of blank birth and death certificates and Gujarat govt civil registration documents. “These documents belong to residents of Mehsana district in Gujarat. We believe they were intended to be used to falsely establish Diu parentage for Mehsana residents,” Balhara said.
