The police were probing the authenticity of some e-passes that were issued to the needy and on verifying with theDistrict Collectorate, they found that the documents werefake, senior inspector Ajaykumar Landge of Panvel policestation said.
Further probe led to the arrest of Maruti Rathod (21),Javed Shaikh (28) and Salim Shaikh (42) from Karanjade area inPanvel, he said.
The trio had forged e-passes for travel from Panvel toJalna during the COVID-19 lockdown, the official said, addingthat the police seized four fake passes and cellphones worthRs 32,000 from the accused.
An offence under sections 420 (cheating), 465(forgery) and other relevant provisions of the IPC and theInformation Technology Act has been registered, he added. CORARU ARU