For Namesake's Visa, Harbhajan Gets A Googly

JALANDHAR: Cricketer Harbhajan Singh may have tormented many batsmen with his bowling but this is one googly he may fail to comprehend himself.

Police in Jalandhar are investigating a scam in which a namesake of the Indian cricketer used his bank statement to get a visa to visit Britain.

The New Delhi-based British high commission has refused a visa to Harbhajan Singh of Patti in the border district of Tarn Taran after his bank statement was found to be fake.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Harkanwaljit Singh Khakh said police were probing how the namesake Harbhajan Singh was able to procure the bank statement of the cricketer from the Civil Lines branch of HDFC Bank.

The high commission became suspicious about the documents submitted by the namesake, as his mother's name was mentioned as Kulwant Kaur while the bank statement showed the name as Avtar Kaur.

The high commission complained to the Jalandhar police commissioner. "We have sent summons twice to the other Harbhajan Singh Singh, who works in a oil company in Mumbai, but he has not joined the investigation," Khakh said here.

Police are also investigating the role of agents and HDFC bank employees to unearth if there was a racket of supplying fake bank account statements.

The fake statement submitted to the embassy showed an account balance of over Rs 4,00,000, in the name of the cricketer who resides in Jalandhar city, 150 km from Chandigarh. Police said the manager of the HDFC Bank had confirmed that the account statement sent to the embassy belonged to the cricketer.

Police have questioned members of the family of the Tarn Taran Harbhajan Singh.

Cricketers Harbhajan, fondly called 'Bhajji', is now out of the Indian cricket team owing to poor form.

The ace spinner had his bag, containing his passport and other documents, stolen from his SUV near Haryana's Karnal town in December when he was on his way to Delhi and had stopped for coffee.