Delhi hotel owner helped Bangladeshi nationals get fake Indian documents, was arrested and booked last year

Lavkesh Bajaj, the owner of the illegal Delhi bed-and-breakfast (B&B), where a fire killed 21 people on Wednesday, helped Bangladeshi nationals secure Indian identity documents at his residential address in exchange for money and was arrested last year.

Bajaj had allegedly allowed a Bangladeshi woman, her daughter, and her minor grandson to use his residential address to obtain Indian identity documents and facilitate their illegal stay in India, police said on Friday.

He took money from them in return for the favour.

He was arrested by the Delhi Police in 2025 in connection with the case involving the procurement of fake Indian documents, including passports and Aadhaar cards for Bangladeshi nationals. A case of cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy was registered against him.

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The case dates to January 29, 2025, when the police received information that a Bangladeshi family was residing in Central Delhi’s Paharganj area using fake documents. The police raided the house and found a woman living on rent along with her daughter and minor grandson. The two women were identified as Sweety Sarkar, alias Beauty Hawladar, alias Johra Khatoon, and her daughter Pushpo Sarkar, alias Pushpo Hawladar, alias Pushpo Saiyada Akther.

The Delhi Police recovered two Bangladeshi passports, one Indian passport, multiple Aadhaar cards, and banking-related documents during a search of the premises.

The photograph on all three passports appeared to be of the same woman. The recovered Aadhaar cards bore different names and addresses, but they too had the same picture.

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Sweety Sarkar’s fake Indian Passport carried address of Chattarpur Enclave, the verification of which revealed that it belonged to Lavkesh Bajaj, a resident of Saket in South Delhi.

During questioning, Bajaj confessed to allowing Sarkar and her family to use his residential address for obtaining Indian identity documents in exchange for money.

The police arrested Lavkesh Bajaj, Sweety Sarkar, and Pushpo Sarkar and filed a chargesheet against all three accused. A separate police information report was submitted regarding the minor child for legal action under applicable provisions.

Bajaj stayed in Tihar jail for around 15 days till he got bail. The matter is pending before a court.

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Bajaj was arrested again on Wednesday night, hours after the fire engulfed the five-storey building, and is currently in four-day police custody.

During interrogation on Wednesday night, Bajaj also confessed that he drove past his burning hotel instead of stopping to help rescue those trapped in the fire. He said he fled out of fear and drove around the city.

The Delhi Police had initiated the process of issuing a lookout circular (LOC) against Bajaj and his wife, as both his children are settled abroad and he could have fled.

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The hotel was operating without a fire no objection certificate (NOC). Moreover, Flourish Stay had permission for only six rooms under the BnB category, but 25 rooms were operational, including some in the basement.

Bajaj did not even have a licence to run a restaurant. He had taken a “tea and snacks outlet” licence that did not allow any cooking or seating, and even that tea-and-snacks licence had expired on March 31. Hours after the fire was reported on Wednesday, Bajaj applied for a licence renewal, but it was rejected.