Donald Trump & Amitabh Bachchan travelling to Shimla? Fake COVID passes spark heated row

As mischievous as it sounds, former US President Donald Trump and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan were scheduled to travel to Shimla from Chandigarh on Friday as 'essential service providers' in 'light motor vehicles', and they would have, had it not come to the notice of the administration, and the reality would not have come to the surface. It so happened that two miscreants had made registration under the name of the two world-famous personalities, and have now been booked under the relevant sections by the State police. 

Taking to the official Twitter handle, the Himachal Pradesh Police shared information about the incident, and the action taken thereafter." HP Police is in receipt of a complaint regarding fake registration in the name of Mr. Donald Trump and Mr. Amitabh Bachchan in the Covid e-pass platform. Shimla Police is registering an FIR under relevant sections of the IPC and IT Act for further legal action," the Tweet read. 

E-passes with the same Mobile and Aadhaar card numbers 

As a matter of fact, both the E-passes (‘HP-2563825 and HP-2563287) were issued with the same mobile and Aadhaar card numbers. The E-pass in the name of Trump had “Mark Jones” as his father, and said, he was going to meet  “Parkash Sharma.” The other E-pass, registered in the name of Bachchan had “Harbans Rai Bachhan” as the father and said, he was to meet “Rajiv Sehjal.” The passes were valid till May 7. 

As soon as the news spread, the Jai Ram Thakur government became the target of allegations from the general people as well as the leader of the opposition. While the leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri questioned the government and said, "what type of system is this where even the passes of Trump and Amitabh Bachchan are being issued?”, State Congress President Kuldeep Singh Rathore went forward to call the issuance of passes to those wishing to enter the state during the “corona curfew” period a formality, saying passes were being issued without any verification. The BJP-led State government, however, refuted such claims and maintained that it was an act committed by some 'pranksters'. 

During the first wave of COVID-19 last year, the e-passes were verified by the deputy commissioners or sub-divisional magistrates of the areas concerned. However, this time the authorities enabled auto-approval on the online portal to save people from inconvenience and delays.

(Credit-AP/PTI)