The Malwani police in Malad have booked ADG-rank officer Deven Bharti and former assistant police commissioner Deepak Phatangde for shielding a Bangladeshi woman who used forged documents to get Indian citizenship. The woman, Reshma Khan, wife of BJP’s Maharashtra secretary Hyder Azam, has also been named in the FIR and is currently untraceable. The duo have been booked on charges of forgery, cheating and various other Sections of IPC and the Passports Act.

The Mumbai Crime Branch recorded Azam’s statement on Friday. The politician said he had no knowledge that she had forged documents. According to his statement, they got married at a friend’s home in Delhi in 2014, and after returning to Mumbai, Azam was living with his first wife while Khan lived at her Malad residence. “I used to speak to her on the phone, and met her last week at her home.