New Delhi, June 5, 2026
Lavkesh Bajaj, the owner of Flourish Stay hotel in Malviya Nagar, was arrested last year along with a few Bangladeshi nationals, for helping them prepare forged Indian identity papers and procure fake documents, including an Aadhar card and a passport.
The Bed and Breakfast hotel owner assisted the Bangladeshi nationals – a woman, her daughter, and minor grandson in facilitating their overstay in the country, by helping them make forged documents, said police on Friday.
All of them were arrested and jailed last year after their fraudulent act came to light.
According to the police, Lavkesh Bajaj was arrested in January 2025, after a case under sections 318(4)/338/336(3)/340(2) of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) was lodged against him and Bangladeshi nationals at Paharganj police station. During the investigation, the police uncovered his alleged role in facilitating their procurement of an Indian identity by fraudulent means and practices.
The police found that two Bangladeshi nationals, namely Sweety Sarkar, her daughter Pushpo Sarkar, and her minor grandson, were living illegally in the Paharganj area. They were residing at a Paharganj address with fake documents and had fraudulently obtained Indian identity documents, including passports and Aadhaar cards.
The police team, during the investigation, found that Sweety Sarkar, alias Beauty Hawladar, alias Johra Khatoon’s passport was forged as it had a different house address, one of Chhattarpur Enclave. This house, submitted as proof of residence, belonged to Lavkesh Bajaj, the owner of the Malviya Nagar hotel that was gutted in the recent blaze.
The police also recovered fake documents, including an Aadhar card, a passport, and bank papers, during the search of the premises, where Bangladeshi nationals lived.
Following this, all three, including Lavkesh Bajaj and two Bangladesh nationals, were arrested and put behind bars. They spent more than 15 days in Tihar jail. A chargesheet was filed in the case after the investigation was completed, while a separate police complaint was filed against the minor under the applicable provisions.
The confirmation of Bajaj’s complicity in the crime came from himself, as he admitted during police interrogation that he allowed Sarkar and her family to use his residential address for obtaining Indian identity documents, in exchange for monetary benefits.
A year later, the hotel owner finds himself in the crosshairs of law again, for flagrant violations in his Bed and Breakfast outlet in South Delhi, which got engulfed in flames on Wednesday, killing 21 people, including 12 foreign nationals.
Bajaj was arrested hours after the deadly mishap and remanded to police custody.(Agency)
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