Gangster Nilesh Ghaywal Changed Aadhaar Address Before Getting Passport, Say Pune Police
Pune, 5th October 2025: Gangster Nilesh Ghaywal, who is currently believed to be in London, allegedly changed the address on his Aadhaar card before applying for a passport in 2019, according to Pune police. The revelation has raised serious questions about how the history-sheeter managed to secure a passport despite facing several criminal charges.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone III) Sambhaji Kadam said the discovery was made during an ongoing investigation into the process through which Ghaywal obtained a passport from Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar).
“Ghaywal, who is named in 13 criminal cases, earlier had an Aadhaar card showing his address in Kothrud,” Kadam said on Saturday. “We suspect the address was changed intentionally to help him obtain a passport despite his criminal background. Interestingly, his wife and son still hold passports reflecting the same Kothrud address.”
Police have already issued a Lookout Circular (LOC) against Ghaywal after he managed to flee India. The LOC was prompted by two violent incidents reported in Pune’s Kothrud area on the night of September 17, in which members of his gang were allegedly involved. Though Ghaywal was not present at the scene, police arrested five of his associates and recovered a firearm and a billhook used in the assaults.
“Our teams spent two days in Ahilyanagar collecting the documents he submitted at the passport office under the tatkaal scheme,” Kadam said. “While reviewing those papers, we found that the address on his Aadhaar had been changed. What’s more unusual is the variation in his surname — while most police and legal records list him as Ghaywal, his Aadhaar, birth certificate, and other documents show Gaiwal. We are now verifying how this alteration was made.”
Investigators have learned that Ghaywal obtained his passport in December 2019 from the Pune Regional Passport Office under the tatkaal category by using a fake residential proof from Ahilyanagar and by slightly altering the spelling of his surname.
Meanwhile, a video surfaced on social media on Friday showing a moneylender from Dharashiv alleging that he had received a threat call from Ghaywal, who purportedly invoked the name of a state minister. Responding to this, Kadam said, “The video appears to be old. We are yet to verify whether the moneylender has filed a complaint with Dharashiv police.”
Kadam added that police will decide on the next steps after completing their inquiry. “Once our investigation is complete, we may recommend that the passport authorities cancel his passport,” he said.
